Braid Hills Nursing Centre on Liberton Drive could be replaced by larger care home

A larger care home and later-living development could be brought forward at Braid Hills Nursing Centre on Liberton Drive, under early plans now recorded with the City of Edinburgh Council.

The proposal concerns the existing care home site at 77 Liberton Drive, Edinburgh EH16 6NS. It would replace the current 119-bed care home with a new 132-bed care home, alongside associated retirement and specialist care accommodation.

The application is a Proposal of Application Notice, often shortened to PAN. That means the project is at a pre-application stage for a major development, before a detailed planning application is submitted for a decision.

What is proposed at Braid Hills Nursing Centre

The proposal is described as the replacement of the existing 119-bed care home with a new 132-bed care home.

The plans also include associated retirement and specialist care accommodation across the site. The stated purpose is to provide accommodation that meets current Care Inspectorate standards.

In practical terms, the proposal points to a significant redevelopment of the care home site rather than a small alteration to the existing building. The bed numbers would rise from 119 to 132 for the care home element, with additional later-living and specialist care accommodation also proposed.

At this stage, the public description does not set out the design, height, layout, access arrangements, landscaping, parking provision or construction programme. Those details would normally be expected to become clearer if a full planning application follows.

Where the site is

Braid Hills Nursing Centre is at 77 Liberton Drive in south Edinburgh, postcode EH16 6NS.

The site sits within the wider Liberton area, close to the Braid Hills and within an established residential part of the city. Any major redevelopment here is likely to be watched closely by nearby residents, families of care home users, local community groups and people interested in later-living provision in south Edinburgh.

The planning record gives the site coordinates as approximately 55.9117 latitude and -3.1736 longitude.

Why the proposal matters

Care home and specialist care accommodation proposals tend to matter locally for several reasons.

First, the scheme would affect an existing care home site, not a vacant or purely commercial plot. The proposal is framed around replacing the current 119-bed facility with a modern 132-bed care home designed to meet current Care Inspectorate standards.

Second, the project is larger than a simple refurbishment. A replacement care home, combined with retirement and specialist care accommodation, could change how the site is used and how it relates to surrounding streets and neighbours.

Third, later-living and care accommodation is a significant planning issue across Edinburgh. Demand for suitable accommodation for older people and people needing specialist care is part of the city’s wider housing and health infrastructure picture. At the same time, local impacts such as building scale, traffic, servicing, trees, open space and overlooking are often central to how neighbours assess a proposal once detailed drawings are available.

For residents living around Liberton Drive, the key questions are likely to include:

• how large the replacement buildings would be;
• where retirement and specialist care accommodation would sit on the site;
• how vehicles, deliveries, staff access and visitor access would be managed;
• what would happen to existing landscape and boundary treatments;
• how the development would affect neighbouring homes;
• how the care home would operate during any future redevelopment.

Those points are not answered by the headline PAN description alone, but they are the kinds of issues that tend to come forward through pre-application consultation and any later detailed planning submission.

What a PAN means

A Proposal of Application Notice is not the same as a full planning application and is not a decision to grant planning permission.

For major developments in Scotland, a PAN is used to notify the planning authority that an applicant intends to bring forward a major application. It also starts a pre-application process in which community consultation is expected before the detailed application is submitted.

That distinction matters for anyone following the Braid Hills Nursing Centre proposal. The current record signals an intention to redevelop the site, but the detailed planning case has not yet been determined.

A later full application would be the point at which the council would assess the proposal in detail against planning policy and site-specific considerations. It would also normally bring forward drawings, supporting statements and technical reports that allow neighbours and consultees to understand the scheme more fully.

What happens next

The application is currently listed as “Awaiting Assessment” and was received and validated on 25 May 2026.

Because it is at PAN stage, the most important next step is the pre-application process. Residents and local groups should watch for consultation information connected to the proposed redevelopment, as well as any future full planning application on the City of Edinburgh Council planning portal.

To find the case, search the council’s planning portal for Braid Hills Nursing Centre, 77 Liberton Drive, or the planning reference 26/02266/PAN.

The council portal link for the case is: https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?keyVal=TFONSDEW0GY00&activeTab=summary