For 149 years, the giant McEwan’s brewery lurked on the western flank of Edinburgh’s historic centre, belching the scent of hops and malt into the heart of one of Europe’s most beautiful capitals. Today, there is not a keg in sight. Where giant sheds and tanks once stood, a new neighbourhood is poised to rise.

Springside, as the eight-acre site is to be known, will be the largest city-centre development the Scottish capital has seen for 150 years. Just 15 minutes’ walk from the medieval walls of Edinburgh Castle, the £200m project will transform the tough streets of Fountainbridge, an area of densely packed tenement blocks. The only faint echo of what was there before will be in the name: the springs once supplied the breweries.

By the time the project is completed in 2013, there will be 650 new homes, in five- and six-storey terraces and blocks, bound and dissected by two tree-lined boulevards. The master plan includes a public park and central courtyards, intended to draw people in and prevent Springside from becoming isolated from the rest of the city. There will be 140,000 sq ft of office space, an artisan workshop, supermarket, shops and an underground car park.

In contrast to the blocks of uniform, two-bed flats that have been the staple of Edinburgh newbuild in the past decade, the development will be a mixture of sizes and styles. Of the residential properties, 550 will range from studio flats to three-bedroom duplex family homes with gardens. There will also be 110 units of affordable accommodation and a seven-storey, 314-room student residence. Although work is under way, the first homes are not expected to be released for sale until early 2010.

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An ambitious development planned for a part of Edinburgh long famed for its beer

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The scale of the scheme, which is backed by a consortium comprising Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster’s property company, AMA, an Edinburgh-based upmarket housebuilder and the Royal Bank of Scotland, has made it qualitatively different from previous schemes, says Andrew Perratt, the head of residential development for Scotland at Savills, the agent marketing Springside. “We are creating a whole new residential quarter. The large number of units involved means we will have to sustain sales for a long time, so we have to be sure there will be demand for what we build. And that meant we began with research into what the Edinburgh market needed, not what might make the most money.”

What Savills’s research shows, he says, is that recent housing schemes have focused on large two- and three-bedroom flats, to the near exclusion of everything else. A study of all newbuild schemes in Edinburgh with more than 50 units found that of those available to buy, 87% were flats – 51% of which were two-bedroom and 40% three-bedroom. Family houses were missing. Nor was there much available for first-time buyers and young professionals in search of a one-bedroom property.

Demand for any sort of property in the Scottish capital has been intense. In 2002, the average price of a home in Edinburgh was £131,827; the latest figure from the Edinburgh Solicitors Property Centre (ESPC) is £221,330.

“High demand for property in the capital has been driven primarily by an increasing population as well as a rise in the proportion of single-person households,” says David Marshall, business analyst with the ESPC. The market is expected to cool a little, partly as a result of schemes such as Springside and others such as Quartermile, as well as a general decline in affordability. But Edinburgh’s reputation as one of the most attractive cities in Britain looks likely to sustain demand.

“It is a capital city, a major financial centre and a very pleasant place to live,” says Paul Whiteley, newbuild sales director for Rettie & Co, a local estate agent. “But there is not much property being built in the city centre, where a lot of people work. Many would rather live close to their employment so they can walk or ride a bike in each day, and work and play all within a small radius. So Springside is in a really good location.”

Critics say the development is just too big. Richard Rodger, professor of economic and social history at the University of Edinburgh and author of The Transformation of Edinburgh, fears that it will fundamentally change the city’s character. “The scale, mass and density of these buildings is quite out of keeping with the rest of the city,” he says.

But Fountainbridge’s most famous son, Sir Sean Connery, is more optimistic. The actor spent his first eight years in a top-floor tenement flat in the area, sleeping in the bottom drawer of a wardrobe, close to the brewery’s encircling walls. Now, approached by the developers, he has given Springside his backing. “I am pleased that now, at last, the walls are coming down and the area will be opened up to be part of the city,” he says. “I hope that the better housing and open spaces will vastly improve the general quality of life there – and give the surrounding community, and the rest of the city, a local neighbourhood it deserves and can be proud of.”

Savills; 0131 247 3703, www.savills.co.uk

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