Two Edinburgh tower blocks facing demolition as refit costs spiral.
The cost of refitting the two Muirhouse blocks has risen from £51.4 million to £86 million as the difficulty in getting contractors to work on the distinctive buildings has become apparent.
City officials in Edinburgh are considering demolishing two multi-story municipal housing towers due to unexpectedly high renovation expenses.
A report to be presented to councillors next week suggests that restoring the Oxcars Court and Inchmickery Court flats in Muirhouse is no longer ‘value for money’.
Councillors will decide what to do with the two 75-flat blocks during the city’s Housing, Homelessness, and Fair Work committee meeting in December.
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Officers have proposed alternative plans for the two structures, including more restricted repairs.
Councillors will be asked to take note of the report, which states that the cost of refitting the blocks has risen dramatically.
The initial cost of refitting the blocks was £51.4 million, however this has since climbed to £86 million due to issues with the structures’ unique architecture.
Inchmickery Court has already decanted 50 tenants in preparation of the start of construction, with one remaining, while 24 flats are vacant.
Plans were on to begin the decant of the 68 tenants in Oxcars Court for the repairs, but officers are now considering moving them early next year to cut maintenance costs.
Refit work would have aimed to keep moisture out of the buildings and increase heat retention, as well as to correct mechanical, electrical, and plumbing faults on the inside.
At a press briefing, a council officer stated that the problems with the two blocks were unusual and not common throughout the council’s multi-storey block complex.
The briefing also stated that residents had received letters informing them that the council was considering destruction as a solution for the future of the blocks.
It is understood that letters were hand-delivered to some Oxcars Court tenants, while postal letters were issued to decanted tenants from Inchmickery Court in recent days.
In the study, cops provide numerous possibilities for what to do next with the identical ten-story blocks.
They estimate that a scaled-back retrofit design may cost £57 million, while limiting works to necessary repairs would cost £13.6 million.
Meanwhile, destroy the two blocks and replace them with new six-story towers, which might create 150 flats for £48 million.
The paper describes how several parts of the building’s distinctive architecture necessitate the use of professional subcontractors for repairs and maintenance.
Officers described how only one contractor bid on various areas of the project, resulting in a’very uncompetitive return’.
Officers stated that no contractors were willing to bid on a package that included steel framing after receiving specific information about the work necessary.
Plans to remodel the blocks began in earnest in August 2022, with a total estimated cost of £51 million.
Officers indicated that the residents of the blocks had ‘bought in’ to the proposal to decant and repair the buildings, which was presented to tenants in September 2023.
Tenants began to be evacuated from Inchmickery Court in January 2025, with design work largely finished by February.
However, in March, council officers understood that the originally planned price would be difficult to meet, so they began looking for methods to minimize expenditures.
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