Gilmour's Close Project

The EWH funded restoration work on 9 & 11 Gilmour’s Close has now been completed, and the project will provide much needed affordable homes in the city centre.

Gilmour’s Close is a Category B listed building dating from 1875, and designed by John Lessels. The building became known as the Castle Trades Hotel and later Bowfoot House, providing accommodation for the homeless. However this old style of communal living is no longer considered good practice, and so the building has been adapted to its new use.

A wide range of repairs were undertaken including the restoration of decorative stonework around doors and windows, replacing leadwork on the roof and structural repairs to the chimneys and crow step gables.

The building now also incorporates a ground source heat pump, to ensure it is energy efficient.

John Mulloy, Chief Executive of Hillcrest Housing Association who own the building said: “Working closely with Edinburgh World Heritage as a funding partner has allowed us to demonstrate how to develop highly efficient refurbished homes with essentially new build standards in listed buildings”