Tuesday February 3rd 2026
James Browne, 33, worries the new development will have onlookers seeing into his two-year-old daughter's room (photo by Joe Sullivan).
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
Leith locals have hit out at plans to build a five-storey block of flats in the car park of an Edinburgh hotel which will ‘tower over’ their properties.
The car park outside the Malmaison hotel is set to be transformed into a 19-unit, five storey apartment block, with the windows of several units to be just meters away from a neighbouring flat block.
Plans were submitted to the council for consideration in January – with similar proposals submitted years ago which were knocked back, much to the delight of residents.
James Browne, 33, says he worries about privacy.
He said: “I’ve got a two-year-old daughter, if it’s going ahead this year, next year, she’s going to have onlookers into her bedroom.
“We’re going to have to get blinds too, and some kind of blinds to allow sunlight as well.”
He walked down the hall to a window facing the car park, and pointed out where the building would be – abutting a small wall a few metres away from the block he was standing in.
Mr Browne also questioned how construction staging would work, with the streets around the site already incredibly constrained.
Pensioner John Stevenson, another resident of the block, said he was worried about the disruption and blocked light the development would cause.
He, too, said he was worried about people seeing in, adding: “I’m worried. It’s a new development that will be looking right in.”
Mr Stevenson lives on the ground floor, meaning the five storey building will tower above his windows.
The new building will be built right up to a small set of gardens to the west of the current block.
Several locals worried that the shadow from the neighbouring building would obstruct them – and one noted that the new development was set to get gardens of their own.
Advertising consultant Tony Harding, who moved to the block in 1999, commented that many locals relied on the gardens for their mental health and a sense of relaxation.
He added: “Why is it alright for us to lose our garden for them to get theirs? Leith doesn’t need 19 new flats.”
Harding added that the plans had first been submitted years ago, when the area was less dense and the local character was different.
The developers of the project did not respond to a request for comment.
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