New Edinburgh public gardens project lands £2.85m donation
Work on the £8.4m landscaping project is due to get underway within the next few months as part of plans to create a £69m National Centre for Music at the former Royal High School, one of the city's most prominent historic landmarks, by 2027.
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The £2.8m donation is the second major funding boost for the project in the space of six months after it secured a £5m pledge from the National Lottery Heritage Fund.
Most of the backing for the new cultural centre, which will have three indoor performance spaces, has pledged by an American arts philanthropist, Carol Colburn Grigor, through her Dunard Fund charity.
The proposed grounds of the National Centre for Music in Edinburgh. (Image: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio)
It was announced last year that award-winning landscape architect Tom Stuart-Smith was masterminding what is planned to become the most significant new green spaces in the heart of the Scottish capital since the creation of Princes Street Gardens in the 1820s.
The Royal High School Preservation Trust, the charity pursuing the project, which will include a new indoor concert hall in the heart of the building, has pledged that the new gardens will be open to the public every day and free to access.
The grounds of the new National Centre for Music in Edinburgh are planned to be open to the public throughout the year. (Image: Tom Stuart-Smith Studio)
The Julia Rausing Trust, which was created in 2014, became one of the UK's biggest philanthropic funds. Although Ms Rising passed away last year, her husband Hans has pledged that it will continue in her memory and will be distributing around £100m a year.
The trust will be supporting the east garden at the Calton Hill site, which will feature more than 200 varieties of flowering trees, flowers and grasses. The pavilion in the east garden will host horticultural and environmental talks, and showcase 'the story of Scotland's rich and diverse fauna.'
The new National Centre for Music is expected to open in 2027. (Image: Richard Murphy Architects)
Simon Fourmy, director of the Julia Rausing Trust, said: 'The transformation of the former Royal High School in Edinburgh into a new National Centre for Music is a remarkable project and it is exciting to see a new public garden created as part of this initiative.
'Supporting heritage for the benefit of all was an important part of Julia Rausing's giving and together with her interest in horticulture and love of gardens, make this a fitting project to support as part of her continuing legacy.'
Tom Stuart-Smith said: 'The overall design of these gardens aims to highlight the extraordinary architectural setting of not only the building but also Edinburgh, creating a tranquil retreat accessible for everyone and recognised as an outstanding destination in the city centre.'
Kate Smith, development director at the Royal High School Preservation Trust, said: 'The gardens will be an extremely important feature of the new National Centre for Music.
'They will have health and wellbeing at their heart and create an urban oasis for the whole community to enjoy.
'The old Royal High School building is one of the most important neoclassical buildings in Scotland and the gardens will form the perfect frame for the exciting new musical hub planned for the building.'
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