Central Edinburgh will continue to be disrupted this weekend following the fire in Princes Street as questions are asked about plans for the site.
It is thought the charred Victorian facade of the former department store in Princes Street may have to be demolished on safety grounds.
A listed staircase and an ornate library are likely to have been lost, both of which featured in the original proposal to convert the vacant building into a hotel.
This may force a change of plan and mean the site either being left unoccupied for some time, or enable a more modern structure to be built.
Debenhams closed in May 2021 and Legal and General planned a £50m investment in a 207-room boutique hotel and “hospitality hub”, but this fell through.
The 116,500 sqft building over nine floors was then bought by Criterion Capital, the development company headed up by billionaire Asif Aziz for an undisclosed sum.
He planned to turn it into a Zedwell hotel, which would be the first in Scotland. The neighbouring building has already been demolished.
The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said 50 firefighters had contained the blaze which broke out in the early hours on Thursday and prevented further damage to neighbouring buildings.
Firefighters were present until Friday morning. Ten people were evacuated from a property in Rose Street and taken to a nearby Premier Inn.
A number of businesses remain closed and traffic is being diverted, but Frederick Street and Castle Street, as well as Rose Street North Lane, have opened to pedestrians and traffic. The west end of Princes Street and Rose Street South Lane are still closed.
Bus services are being diverted and trams from the airport are terminating at the West End stop in Atholl Crescent. Tram tickets will be accepted by ScotRail between Edinburgh Gateway and Edinburgh Waverley and on Lothian bus services between West End and Newhaven.
A preliminary joint investigation with Police Scotland into the cause of the fire is under way. At this early stage, SFRS said it could not speculate on the circumstances surrounding the incident.
SFRS deputy assistant chief officer Willie Pollard said: “This has been a complex and challenging incident in a busy city centre location.
“Crews worked in demanding conditions to bring the fire under control and successfully contain it to the affected building, which was undergoing construction works and has suffered extensive damage.
“Their actions helped prevent the spread of fire to neighbouring buildings and significantly reduced the wider impact of this incident.”
Firefighters were called to the scene at 2.50am where the blaze quickly gutted the building, built in 1869 as the Palace Hotel and latterly occupied by Debenhams until its closure five years ago. Shop units in the building were also vacant.
Council Leader, Jane Meagher, said: “It’s too early to speculate on the cause of the fire and it’s right that we now wait for the investigation to run its course.
“Ultimately, the responsibility for safety and security of the site lies with the owner and the contractor. We’ll work with the owners, Historic Environment Scotland, and other partners on next steps once we know more.”
The fire is the latest in a series of blazes in Princes Street. The Debenhams store was hit in 2021 and the former Jenners store was severely damaged in 2023, while the Palace Hotel, which relocated to the corner of Castle Street, was demolished after a fire in 1991.
Following work to stabilise buildings damaged in the fire at Union Corner in Glasgow in March, Central Station and surrounding streets will fully reopen ahead of the Commonwealth Games.
Network Rail Scotland confirmed the full station concourse will reopen on 13 July while the Union Street and Gordon Street entrances of the station will open from 17 July.
Only the facade of the B-listed Victorian building at the junction of Union Street and Gordon Street was left standing, but it was later demolished because of safety fear
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