99-flat Salamander Yards plan returns to Edinburgh Council

A planned block of 99 flats at Salamander Yards in Leith is back before City of Edinburgh Council through a further variation application.

The site is at 124 Salamander Street and 1–3 Salamander Yards, close to Leith’s industrial and dockland edge. The current proposal is for a 5–6 storey residential building with access, parking and landscaping.

The application is worth watching because it sits in an area of Leith where older commercial and industrial land is increasingly being tested for new housing, while nearby residents and businesses will be looking closely at height, access, parking, design and how the development fits into the surrounding streets.

What is proposed at Salamander Yards

The proposal is described as a 5–6 storey building providing 99 residential apartments, with associated access, parking and landscape works.

The scheme includes landscaped courtyard space for residents, alongside the new building and vehicle access arrangements. The planning material also refers to the proposal as amended, meaning the design has changed through the planning process.

A related non-material variation application lists a series of design and technical changes to the previously consented scheme. These include:

• a centralised air source heat pump
• updated landscape plans and levels
• reduced overall building massing
• standardised window and balcony metalwork colours
• changes to window over-panel materials
• minor amendments to window operation and formats
• lightweight cladding to high-level gables
• alternative brick panel details
• changes to the entry canopy design and material
• columns added to corner balconies

Taken together, the applications point to a substantial new residential building on the Salamander Yards site, with detailed changes now being considered around materials, massing, landscaping and building services.

The site: 124 Salamander Street and 1–3 Salamander Yards

The address places the site on Salamander Street, east of central Leith and within reach of the docklands, Seafield Road and the wider Leith waterfront area.

This part of Edinburgh has a mixed character. It includes industrial and commercial premises, yards, storage uses, residential streets and larger regeneration sites. New housing in this area can therefore have a visible effect on the local street scene, especially where a multi-storey building replaces or intensifies a lower-density site.

For neighbours, the key day-to-day questions are likely to be how the building sits on the site, how vehicles and servicing would enter and leave, how much parking is provided, and what the landscaped areas would feel like once built.

Why the application matters

A 99-flat scheme is a major residential intervention for Salamander Street. Even without a tower or a city-centre location, a 5–6 storey block can change the feel of a street, particularly in an area where building heights and uses vary significantly from plot to plot.

The proposal also matters because Leith continues to absorb pressure for new homes. Sites around the waterfront, the docks and connecting routes such as Salamander Street are increasingly important in decisions about how Edinburgh grows within its existing urban area.

For local businesses, the main interest may be construction activity, access, servicing and the relationship between new residents and existing commercial operations. For residents and community groups, attention is more likely to fall on design quality, courtyard space, traffic, parking, overlooking, daylight and how the scheme contributes to the wider area.

The related variation details also show that the design is not only about the number of homes. Materials, balcony treatment, window design, brick detailing, gables, entrances and landscaping all shape how a new block is experienced from the street and from nearby properties.

Affordable homes and mix of flats

Earlier reporting on the Salamander Yards plans described the development as a joint venture between Cruden Homes and Evantyr Properties. It also reported a mix of one, two and three-bedroom apartments, with 35% designated as affordable housing.

Those details help explain why the scheme has attracted attention beyond the immediate site. A 99-home development with a stated affordable housing element would contribute to Edinburgh’s housing supply while also raising the usual local planning questions about design, access and neighbourhood impact.

What to look for in the planning papers

Anyone reviewing the application should focus on the drawings and supporting documents rather than the short description alone. The most useful items are likely to be the site layout, floor plans, elevations, landscape drawings and any document explaining the amendments.

For a proposal of this kind, the points most relevant to local readers are:

• the height and massing of the 5–6 storey block
• how the building addresses Salamander Street and Salamander Yards
• the location and amount of resident parking
• vehicle access and servicing arrangements
• the design of balconies, windows, brickwork and cladding
• the size and quality of the landscaped courtyard
• how boundary treatments affect neighbouring sites
• whether the revised massing changes views, daylight or enclosure

Because the current case is a variation, some of the most important information may sit in the comparison between the consented scheme and the amended drawings.

What happens next

The application is currently listed by City of Edinburgh Council as awaiting assessment. That means the council has received and validated the case, but no decision is recorded yet.

Residents, businesses and other interested parties can search the council’s planning portal using reference 22/03430/VAR2. The related non-material variation is listed under reference 22/03430/VARY.

The site address to use when searching is 124 Salamander Street, 1–3 Salamander Yards, Edinburgh.