Starwood to take over Edinburgh's controversial 'ribbon' hotel
The 12-storey, 214-room site will feature a gym, spa, restaurant and rooftop bar with 360 degree panoramic views encased in a winding steel structure.
It will form the centrepiece of the £850m Edinburgh St James retail and housing development when it opens in 2021.
But the controversial design has been dubbed the ‘Walnut Whip’ and #theturd by critics, with planning officials warning that the hotel will ‘damage’ the city's historic skyline.
Earlier this year UNESCO launched an investigation which could see Edinburgh stripped of its treasured world heritage status over a series of new developments.
Michael Wale, president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Europe, Africa and Middle East, said he was ‘confident’ there would be an appetite for the brand in the Scottish capital.
“W Edinburgh’s location at the pulsing heart of the new Edinburgh St James development, combined with its innovative design, contemporary interiors and the W brand’s signature programming, will create the perfect setting for the second W hotel in the United Kingdom," he said.
The site is set to open ten years after Starwood first launched the W London – Leicester Square in 2011.
