Edinburgh's String of Pearls

String of Pearls is the City of Edinburgh Council's vision for the long-term regeneration of Princes Street.

Princes Street is the 'front line' between Edinburgh's Old and New Towns and enjoys some of the most spectacular urban views to be found anywhere in the world. Despite its location, the retail sector has been underperforming in recent years.

There is simply not enough space for the number of retailers who want to trade in the city centre. Those who are here are too often forced to trade from stores that are too small for their needs or are poorly configured for modern retailing.

In other cities, the solution to these problems would be large-scale demolitions and construction of shopping malls. However this is difficult in a World Heritage Site.

The String of Pearls project aims to generate greater architectural quality and better shopping provision by developing the unique character of each block, rationalising the retail floor plates and providing tenable occupation in the vacant upper stories.

Under the project, Princes Street has been divided into ten sections, each representing a pearl, with a number of planned and live interconnected developments stretching from Calton Hill to Haymarket.

Numbers 121-123 at the west end of Princes Street, for example, are to be redeveloped into a hotel and retail scheme by Deramore. New Look has prelet the 30,000 sq ft retail unit while a 97-room hotel will be incorporated into the upper floors.

Recently, within the String of Pearls development brief , the former Royal High School building on Calton Hill will be brought back into public use for the first time in almost 40 years, under plans announced by the city council.  The iconic building is to undergo a £35m redevelopment into an "arts hotel" which will have public gallery space.

The council awarded the project to Duddingston House Properties, which will now submit designs. The imposing structure, which was once mooted as a possible base for the Scottish Parliament, has stood on the south face of Calton Hill since 1829.

It has remained under-used since the Royal High School relocated to larger, more modern premises. Edinburgh City Council leader Jenny Dawe described the development as "hugely exciting" and said, " it would form an integral part of a wider project to bring "new life" to the city centre and allow this wonderful building to be brought respectfully into the 21st Century," she added.