One of Edinburgh’s most controversial office buildings, which featured in a recent Netflix series, is facing demolition.
Argyle House on Lady Lawson Street, built in the 1960s in the post-modern brutalist style, dominates the area east of the historic Grassmarket at the foot of the castle.
The former government offices are now occupied by the University of Edinburgh and the tech incubator Codebase. The building featured as a police headquarters in the TV series Department Q. It also appeared in a feature by the author Irvine Welsh.
Property agency CBRE has submitted the plans to Edinburgh Council that include demolition and replacement by a hotel, commercial units and residential apartments
Consultation events are being held on 2 December and 28 January.
The building was designed by Michael Laird and Partners and was the largest open-plan office in Europe when it opened in 1968. It has regularly topped polls of Edinburgh’s most ugly buildings. However, it has its supporters who say it is representative of an architectural style and era.
It was acquired in October 2023 by PGIM Real Estate in a £38 million deal from Kennedy Wilson in an off-market transaction.
PGIM is the global asset management business of Prudential Financial which saw “long-term potential for redevelopment and regeneration in the heart of Edinburgh city centre.”
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