The Old Town Development Trust, in conjunction with partners such as Edinburgh World Heritage, have been developing plans to transform the Canongate Venture Building on the corner of New Street and East Market Street into a Literature Centre. The council now see this proposal as the best way to bring the building back into productive use. 

This Scotsman article has more details: Former school set to book a place at heart of city's literary quarter.

On Wednesday 19th May 2010. Jonny Pugh from the Edinburgh Old Town Development Trust held a workshop at Edinburgh College of Art in collaboration with Julie Logan from 'SOOT' (Save Our Old Town) and ARTscape (the Landscape Architecture Students society at ECA) on the theme of 'meanwhile' proposals for the New Street gap site on north Canongate. Students from different departments at the Edinburgh College of Art were asked to produce images suggesting temporary uses of the site before an eventual scheme is constructed. The resulting images were exhibited at the ‘Edinburgh Old Town Festival’ and will contribute towards SOOT’s attempts to retrieve funding and support form the council. Below is a copy of the brief and some images from the workshop.

The Trust’s project for developing green spaces within the Old Town has now been christened the Patrick Geddes Gardening Club and, with a swell of interest behind it, it has started meeting regularly to take forward gardening and food growing initiatives, as well as promoting the fauna of the Old Town.

If you are interested, please contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or come to the next meeting.