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Alexander Fairweather
Design Director
Alexander is a registered Architect with over 30 years experience in projects ranging from the 15th-century Hawthornden Castle to the St James Quarter, opened in 2021.
After graduating from Edinburgh College of Art, he worked on the restoration of significant medieval, Stuart and Georgian buildings; since 1998, he has contributed to the journals and magazines of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland.
His architectural design work is primarily focused in Edinburgh, from the new home for the Traverse Theatre at Castle Terrace competition and award-winning schemes like Coalhill in Leith, the Tun in Holyrood (occupied by the BBC), and at Greenside: offices at Calton Square (occupied by Baillie Gifford) and the Cube (Glenmorangie), and the Omni leisure complex.
His residential experience runs from luxury properties like Ravelston XXIII, to Napier University’s Bainfield student flats. Other design work includes the new Boroughmuir High School, hotels for Radisson/Missoni and Premier Inn, and master planning and offices at Edinburgh Park including the former global headquarters of Diageo. He was heavily involved in the concept and design of Artisan Real Estate’s New Waverley masterplan and buildings, including Adagio’s Royal Mile ApartHotel, Queen Elizabeth House for the UK Government, and residential units for Queensberry Estates.
Recently, he spent ten years on the design from inception to site-start of the St James Quarter, Nuveen’s £1 billion retail-led mixed-use urban regeneration in the heart of Edinburgh’s World Heritage Site. The completed scheme comprises 1.7m sqft of retail, restaurants, bars and leisure space anchored by John Lewis, parking for 1,600 cars, a 75-bedrooms Aparthotel, a 5-screen Everyman Cinema and 150 New Eidyn residences for Native Land+Queensberry, many of which feature spectacular views. The scheme complements the strong geometry of the New Town and provides the setting for Marriott’s new landmark 240-bed W-Hotel.
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