Jestico + Whiles have won planning permission for an egg-shaped hotel wrapped in bronze coils – the centrepiece of a major development in Edinburgh, UK, – despite planning officials urging councillors to reject the idea.

The five-star hotel will feature up to 210 bedrooms, as well as a 41,000sq ft (3,809sq m) apart hotel that has the potential to provide 70 suites. The practice envisages a hotel that appears as a bundle of ‘coiled ribbons’, creating a “free-flowing and bold” building.

Planning officials had warned that the hotel’s proximity to listed buildings could harm Edinburgh’s status as a World Heritage Site and said it would be wider than had originally been proposed. However, councillors rejected these concerns, voting seven to five in favour of the development. The council is expected to complete a compulsory purchase order for the whole St James site next month.

The hotel forms part of the £850m ($1.3bn, €1.2bn) Edinburgh St James scheme – masterplanned by Allan Murray Architects and BDP – located in a World Heritage Site in the Scottish city’s St James Quarter.

Led by developer TIAA Henderson Real Estate, the total scheme will take up 160,000sq m (1.7m sq ft) and replace a 1970s shopping centre. Retail space comprising 70,000sq m (753,474sq ft) and up to 250 new homes will also be created.

Heritage architect Purcell will take the lead in the design of the parts of the development which feature listed buildings – the Mansion Capital building and St Andrews Hall – while OPEN is the landscape architect on the development.

With planning permission now in place, construction work is expected to begin later this year, with completion scheduled for 2020.

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