Jenners Building facade to emerge as scaffolding comes down in Edinburgh this winter

Scaffolding around the Jenners Building on Edinburgh's Princes Street will come down in stages this winter, revealing the restored facade for the first time in more than two years, main contractor GRAHAM has said.

The contractor said the restoration and redevelopment is led by AAA United, a real estate company owned by Anders Holch Povlsen, which bought the former department store in 2017. GRAHAM described itself as main contractor on the project.

The scaffolding has allowed craftspeople to appraise the exterior stone by stone, with each element assessed individually, GRAHAM said. The building's 600 windows, in 35 different styles, have all been catalogued, assessed and protected, and the three gold-lettered JENNERS signs on the southern and eastern facades have been refurbished and reinstated as elements protected by the building's listing.

Andrew Keith, managing director of The Jenners Building, said: "Over the coming months the façade will gradually re-emerge. Edinburgh is getting The Jenners Building back, and people will be able to see the care that has gone into conserving it."

The specialist trades

GRAHAM named the specialist firms working on the Category A-listed building. Ratho-based Graciela Ainsworth Sculpture Conservation has conserved the 22 female caryatids and 12 female statues on the east and south facades and is reapplying breathable sacrificial shelter coats to protect them.

Stirling Stone has reviewed each stone and restored or replaced it where needed, using Blaxter Sandstone quarried in Northumberland and supplied by Dunhouse Quarry. Falkirk-based Matheson Plumbing Company carried out the lead work to gutters, dormers and ridges.

Rainbow Glass Studios of Prestwick, which GRAHAM described as Scotland's largest stained-glass specialist, has advised on and restored all decorative glass in the building, including copper lights, heraldic leaded glass and embossed internal screens.

Mr Keith said: "Those of us working on the restoration have had the privilege of seeing the Victorian craftsmanship up close, and it is extraordinary."

The scheme

According to GRAHAM and the project's own website, the David Chipperfield Architects masterplan covers 20,000 square metres across four interconnected buildings and 12 storeys. GRAHAM's own release when work started put the development at 17,500 square metres across ten floors.

The completed scheme is intended as a mixed-use destination combining retail, hospitality, wellbeing and cultural uses, GRAHAM said. David Chipperfield Architects said the building is to reopen as a department store with a hotel on the upper floors, with a new route created through the building from Princes Street to St Andrew Square and the central saloon restored as a public space shared by the store and the hotel.

The size of the hotel has been described differently by the project team. GRAHAM said when work started that the upper floors would house a 90-room boutique hotel, while conservation architect Loader Monteith's project page gives about one hundred rooms. Loader Monteith said restaurants and cafes are proposed around the Grand Saloon on the second floor.

David Chipperfield Architects lists Loader Monteith Architects as restoration architect, 3D Reid as executive architect, Gardiner and Theobald as quantity surveyor, Etive Consulting Engineers as structural engineer, Rybka as services engineer and Redside Properties Consultants as project manager.

Background

Jenners was founded in 1838 and, according to David Chipperfield Architects, is one of the oldest department stores in the world to have traded continuously from the same site. GRAHAM said the building opened in 1895, was expanded in 1903 with further additions in the 1950s and 60s, and closed in December 2020. The project website names Scottish architect William Hamilton Beattie as the original designer.

The site sits within the world heritage site and is bounded by Princes Street, South St David Street and Rose Street, according to Loader Monteith, which said the scheme contributes to the regeneration of the eastern end of Princes Street.

Edinburgh City Council unanimously approved planning permission and listed building consent for the restoration, David Chipperfield Architects announced in 2022. Construction has been under way since 2024, according to the project website, and GRAHAM said when work started that it had been appointed to carry out the shell and core works. The architect said at the time that, with the scaffolding up, repairs to the sandstone facade could begin.

Gary Holmes, regional managing director at GRAHAM Building North, said when work started that Edinburgh had a thriving hotel and leisure sector drawing visitors from around the world.

What happens next

The scaffolding will be removed in stages over the winter, GRAHAM said. David Chipperfield Architects said work is expected to complete in 2027.