Fresh community buyout bid to provide homes at Edinburgh hospital

Marchmont & Sciennes Development Trust wants to turn the 122-year-old site into a hub for affordable housing, businesses and a community hall.

Scottish Ministers “declined to consider” the community group’s bid to buy the historic Scottish hospital earlier this year due to issues relating to land ownership.

The Scottish Government was considering an application by residents living next to the hospital to be given first refusal to buy the site under new urban ‘community right to buy’ laws.

But the process stalled after complex land ownership issues revealed that although the four-acre facility is being marketed as one site, it is owned by two separate legal entities NHS Lothian and its charitable trust, the Edinburgh and Lothians Health Foundation.

This means the Trust had to drop its single application to be given first refusal on the site and has now submitted two separate bids to try and gain control of the iconic hospital.

If successful, the Trust would aim to provide a range of housing across the site suited to different demographics, including family housing, shared flats suited to young people and individuals, student housing, and housing suited to the elderly and those with mobility needs. Alongside individual self-contained flats and houses, there will be significant communal spaces suited to socialising, working, events, and shared meals.

Nathan Bower-Bir, spokesman for Marchmont and Sciennes Development Trust, said: “We are delighted to get our revised application submitted and are confident the Scottish government will see the merits of letting the community take control of the Sick Kids when the NHS moves out.

“The past few weeks have involved an intense effort from our unpaid volunteers to try and clear up complex land ownership issues, but we have been sustained by the growing support for the bid from across the community.

“Our application sets out the exciting opportunities that the Sick Kids presents for the local community through urban community right to buy laws.

“The only way to ensure a community-led development focused on issues directly relevant to the people living in Marchmont and Sciennes is for our applications to be approved.”