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Dear Members,
For the month of March, our programme of walks and blogs have celebrated International Women's Day and Women's History Month, offering an opportunity to consider not only the city's heritage, but also how that heritage is recorded, remembered, and, at times, overlooked.
Heritage cities such as Edinburgh have a particular way of obscuring women's contributions. This is rarely deliberate. More often, it reflects long-standing habits: crediting institutions over individuals, recording formal decisions while overlooking the informal labour behind them, and assuming that those who signed the record were solely responsible for the work. Yet, as both historical and contemporary experience shows, women have long played a central role in shaping the city's civic and cultural life.
The Cockburn Association itself offers a clear example. From its early years, women were active as campaigners, members, and advocates for the city's historic environment. Figures such as Rosaline Masson, who joined the Council in 1919 following the passage of the Sex Disqualification (Removal) Act, and later authored the Association's own history, Scotia's Darling Seat (1925), remind us that women were not peripheral to this work, but central to it. Recovering and recognising these contributions requires deliberate effort and remains an ongoing task.
This is not simply a matter of historical interest. Across Edinburgh today, from the Canongate to Leith, the Southside to the New Town, women continue to shape how heritage is understood, protected, and contested. They do so as community historians, planning campaigners, and local voices who sustain civic engagement, often without formal recognition. The distance between past and present, in this respect, is smaller than we might assume, and as we all know, our city still has more statues of pets than of the remarkable women who shaped it.
Alongside this reflective work, we have been busy preparing our first events of the year. Our AGM on 28 April 2026 (17.30 to 20.00) will feature a special lecture on Edinburgh's Three ideas which could transform the centre of Edinburgh by architect Richard Murphy, alongside the formal business of the evening. We also look forward to our Festival of Europe Scotland presentation on 12 May, as part of the festival running 7 to 17 May, in partnership with Invisible Cities and Essential Edinburgh, and with academic colleagues from the Universities of Loughborough (London) and Santiago de Compostela. Please see below for advanced booking details, and do get your tickets promptly as we anticipate high demand.
These events, and the accompanying requests for donations, reflect an important objective underpinning all of our work: the need to enhance the reach and influence of the Association, and to achieve greater financial stability. As you’ll hear more fully at the AGM, the dreadful developments in the Middle East have impacted significantly on our reserves. The more we can increase our visibility, the better placed we will be to grow our membership and increase the scope for donations and grant aid, while continuing to advocate for a more inclusive understanding of Edinburgh's heritage.
We are, as always, grateful for your continued support and enthusiasm. It is through the commitment of our members that the Cockburn Association remains at the forefront of Edinburgh's civic life, championing a city that is liveable, sustainable, and attentive to the many voices, past and present, that have shaped it.
We look forward to seeing you in April and in May.
Lesley Martin, Chair & Rowan Brown, Director
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Save the date! The Cockburn Association's 151st AGM
The Cockburn Association's 151st Annual General Meeting will take place on the 28 April from 5:30 to 8pm at the Grassmarket Community Centre in the Sir Walter Scott Hall. After the formal proceedings conclude at 18:15 we will have refreshments and an opportunity for mingling, followed by a lecture by Richard Murphy titled Three ideas which could transform the centre of Edinburgh.
There is a £5 suggested donation for the lecture. We appreciate your support!
Please RSVP here. |
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Homes or Homecomings? Managing tourism tensions with European Partners
The Cockburn Association invites you to join us at the City Chambers on 12 May to learn from European partners about managing tourism. This event is part of the Festival of Europe programme.
Hospitality is a core part of Scotland’s culture, but the pressures to meet the demands of high visitor footfall are putting pressures on our capital city. Our session will explore new research into the impact of tourism in Edinburgh and discuss European approaches to managing tourist tensions and balancing the needs of residents and visitors.
To learn more and get your tickets, please click here. |
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In Their Footsteps: The Women Behind Edinburgh’s Built Heritage
Anna Dowling-Clarke
Edinburgh is full of stories, threaded through the very fabric of the city. Some threads boast vibrant colours and remain ever-present, their significance never doubted. Others blend quietly into the background, their colours muted. And some have become so frayed with neglect that they risk being cut away entirely.
It is these overlooked threads, the muted and the frayed, that fascinate me most, and which I believe deserve our attention.
The history of Edinburgh is celebrated across the world. Its dramatic skyline, old closes and grand Georgian streets form a narrative so compelling that millions of people are drawn here every year.¹ Guided tours, books, exhibitions, documentaries and an ever-growing body of popular history all contribute to a powerful image of the city as a place steeped in heritage and meaning.
Yet, while these stories are impressive, it is worth asking: whose stories are being told, and whose are being left behind? Read more here. |
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Planning for the Future: What Edinburgh Can Learn from China (and Vice Versa)
James Garry
This month (March) the Cockburn Association had the pleasure of meeting students from the University of Edinburgh and Heriot-Watt University at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, the remarkable new interdisciplinary research space housed in the restored Old Royal Infirmary on Lauriston Place. The conversation ranged widely, but one question kept surfacing: how do other planning systems around the world handle the tensions that Edinburgh faces every day between growth, heritage, and community voice? The comparison that generated most discussion was perhaps the least obvious one. This is Scotland and China. This blog is an attempt to take that conversation further.
Standing at the east end of Princes Street, it is hard to miss the gleaming curves of the W Edinburgh Hotel rising above the rooftops. To some it represents investment and regeneration; to others, a troubling intrusion into one of the world’s most celebrated historic skylines. Locals have been less than charitable in their nickname for it. The “Golden Turd” has entered the Edinburgh vocabulary, and it probably isn’t leaving any time soon.
The controversy is not just about one building. It captures something fundamental about how Edinburgh, and Scotland more broadly, approaches planning decisions. These are never purely technical exercises. They are arguments about identity, about who the city is for, and about how the past sits alongside the future. They are also, unavoidably, arguments about speed, capacity and resources.
It is worth stepping back occasionally to consider how other places navigate these tensions. Few comparisons are more instructive, or more counterintuitive, than the one between Scotland and China. Read more here.
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North Edinburgh Connections: A Chance to Get Street Design Right
James Garry
A consultation is now open on the North Edinburgh Connections project, previously known as NEAT. Though framed as an active travel scheme, it is more consequential than that label suggests. It will reshape some of north Edinburgh’s most important streets and, with them, the everyday experience of the communities they serve.Read more here.
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Cameron Toll Consulatation: Cameron Toll vision needs coordinated masterplanning and civic leadership.
More than 400 people recently attended a public consultation on proposals to redevelop the Cameron Toll shopping centre site. The plans set out an ambitious long-term vision for the area, with investment estimated at around £350 million and a shift away from a single-use retail centre toward a more mixed neighbourhood.
The emerging masterplan proposes retaining and upgrading parts of the existing shopping centre while introducing new homes, leisure uses and a hotel. Around 500 homes could be delivered across the wider site, alongside new public spaces, improvements to the Braid Burn corridor and better connections to surrounding streets and neighbourhoods. The proposals also explore the potential for a future tram-ready transport hub, reflecting the site’s role as a key junction in the south of the city.
The consultation forms part of an early stage in the planning process, giving local residents and stakeholders an opportunity to comment on how the site might evolve. Further engagement is expected before a formal planning application is brought forward.
Read more here. |
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Rose Street Theatre (former Charlotte Chapel): Adaptive reuse supported, subject to strong conservation safeguards
The Cockburn Association welcomes the opportunity to comment on the revised proposal for the conversion of the former Rose Theatre to hotel use.
We previously raised substantial concerns regarding the extent of internal subdivision and loss of significant historic fabric. It is therefore important to acknowledge that the current submission demonstrates a constructive response. The retention of the principal sanctuary space and the decision to preserve the historic pulpit are positive and reflect a clearer appreciation of the building’s architectural and cultural significance.
The Association supports the principle of bringing a long vacant listed building back into sustainable use. Securing a viable future for heritage assets is essential to their long-term conservation and to the vitality of the city centre.
However, heritage impact remains the central consideration. The special interest of the building lies not only in individual features but in the coherence of its interior volume and its layered history as chapel and theatre. Further assurance is required that hotel adaptation, services installation and subdivision will not undermine that integrity. A rigorous and clearly articulated conservation methodology should underpin any consent, with particular emphasis on reversibility and minimal intervention. Read more here. |
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Robertson Avenue student residential development: Design misalignment undermines streetscape; redevelopment principle supported
The Cockburn Association supports the principle of redeveloping this long-vacant site and recognises the potential for the proposal to repair the Robertson Avenue streetscape. However, the Association objects to the proposal in its current form.
The architectural elevation does not adequately align with the roofline and horizontal string courses of the adjoining traditional tenement, resulting in an unsatisfactory relationship with the established streetscape. A revised design aligning façade elements with neighbouring architectural datum lines would significantly improve contextual integration. Read more here. |
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Forth Street Apart-Hotel: Opposes apart-hotel; risks interiors, heritage integrity, and mixed-use balance.
The Cockburn Association objects to the proposed conversion of 16–26 Forth Street from office use to a large apart-hotel. While the continued repair and reuse of historic buildings is welcome in principle, the scale and intensity of the proposed development raise significant concerns. The level of internal subdivision required to create approximately ninety visitor accommodation units risks undermining the spatial character and architectural integrity of the listed Georgian interiors. Concerns also arise regarding the design and scale of the proposed rear extension within the courtyard environment, which must remain clearly subordinate to the historic terrace. More broadly, the proposal contributes to an increasing pattern of converting buildings within the city centre to visitor accommodation. While tourism is an important part of Edinburgh’s economy, the cumulative loss of employment and mixed-use functions risks undermining the balanced character of the New Town. Read more here. |
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The Cockburn Association is a registered Scottish Charity, No: SC 011544. Trunk's Close, 55 High Street, Edinburgh, EH1 1SR Tel: 0131 557 8686
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