The Craighouse Campus was formerly part of Napier University’s campus in Edinburgh. The site was sold to a private developer, who wishes to build over much of the 50 acres of green space. The planning rationale has been that this new build would be enabling development to allow the refurbishment of the listed buildings to the site.

The green space is a public amenity that the residents of neighbouring areas wish to see protected for ongoing use. Issues of overlooking the existing housing stock of the area are also relevant.  The residents have formed a charitable group, called Friends of Craighouse (FoC), to take forward a community buy-out of the estate.

There are nine buildings to the site, of which six are listed. These range from the former asylum building of New Craig, once the heart of Napier University’s wedding hosting business, to Old Craig; an A-listed building, containing elements of sixteenth to eighteenth century construction.

The buildings are in varying states of repair. The grounds have been neglected since coming into the ownership of the developer and are an ongoing cause for concern.

On 03 September 2014, permission was granted in favour of the developer’s scheme. FoC wish to develop the existing buildings for sympathetic uses and have already spoken to commercial interests about taking premises on the site.

PRT assisted the group by giving advice on governing structures and the options open to FoC, commenting on their Business Plan and by writing a comprehensive Route Map on how they could best phase and plan the works to the buildings on site.