Vacant to vintage: The abandoned listed building restored into a 'bonnie’ Edinburgh smart tech hotel.

The idea

Where thousands of tourists saw a long vacant Georgian townhouse, an award-winning architect saw the potential for a hospitality hot spot right in the heart of Edinburgh’s vibrant city centre.

The grand Category B listed building, situated in Edinburgh’s elegant West End, was within walking distance of the city’s many attractions, including the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle and Princess Street, making it the ideal location for a hotel.

But the prospective owners needed funds to purchase the former office space and refurbish the site into a destination that celebrated the building’s historic features and integrated smart technology.

The enablement

As soon as we started talking to our customers about the ambitious project, we were excited about the prospect of turning the beautiful but abandoned building back into a productive and profitable part of the city.

We were happy to provide two loans totalling nearly £2.5 million to initially purchase the site, and then to carry out the extensive redevelopment required to complete the transformation.

Steven Clark, Corporate Relationship Director at Together, said: “Edinburgh attracts tourists and business people from all over the world, and The Bonnie Hotel is the perfect location for them to stay. We were impressed by the plans the owners brought to us; blending the historic beauty of a Georgian building with smart, modern technology to improve guest experience.”

Steven told us “Hotels are certainly a lucrative investment for this area (of Edinburgh); we see a lot of success from our customers. The Bonnie Hotel is an excellent example of this, and we expect it to prove a very profitable venture.

Additionally, the renovation helps address the number of empty and abandoned buildings in Edinburgh. A study we conducted last year found that over 93,000 properties are sat abandoned and derelict across the whole of Scotland, which could deliver nearly £18.5billion in value if redeveloped.

We were delighted to have been able to support our customer in bringing the Bonnie Hotel to life, and hope to see more similar projects in the future.”

At Together, we provide a range of flexible commercial, corporate and development finance options, backed by our common-sense approach to lending, that empower our customers to achieve their property ambitions.

Our expert team across the UK, including Steven in Scotland, are always on hand to help so get in touch if you’ve got a project you’re excited about.