Heineken sells historic Caledonian Brewery site to developers

Heineken has sold Edinburgh’s historic Caledonian Brewery site to the property developers Artisan Real Estate.

The historic 1.9-acre brewery in Shandon will be turned into new homes and, according to local reports, the developer has already submitted its Proposal of Application Notice with a public consultation scheduled to be held on 7 February 2024.

Prior to Heineken closing the Caledonian Brewery in 2022, it was Edinburgh’s last major brewery and had been founded in 1869 by George Lorimer and Robert Clark. The brewery, along with its B-listed Victorian buildings, reportedly used traditional brewing methods and open square fermenters and direct-fired copper kettles.

Despite passing through a range of ownerships during the past two centuries, the brewery was most recently operated by Heineken from 2008 after it had been acquired as an assets of then owner Scottish and Newcastle. However, in May 2022, Heineken announced the closure of the Caledonian Brewery and placed the site on the market, leaving the historic buildings vulnerable to property developers.

Lamenting about the site being turned into houses, one Redditer stated: “Nothing against new homes, but for Heineken to take over and shut the site (despite making 4.5 billion euro profit this year) at the loss of jobs and economic benefit and move them all down South/abroad feels a sore one. Doesn’t seem to have caused much anger but feels almost criminal. Presumably was allowed to become a residential site, so another institution gone.”

Previous projects from Artisan Real Estate include the New Waverley development in Edinburgh’s Old Town, as well as the new development at Glasgow’s Custom House.

Speaking about the Caledonian Brewery site, Artisan’s regional director David Westwater said that he intended to build “around 170” “one, two and three bed apartments through to duplex units and mews houses”.

Westwater added: “Around one fifth of the homes will be housed in the existing listed buildings”.

The majority of the listed buildings on the site date back to the late 19th to early 20th century and were built in red and white bricks. The existing brewhouse and maltings were said to have been built in 1892 from designs drawn up by Robert Hamilton Paterson who also designed the Royal Scots War Memorial at St Giles Cathedral.

The maltings housed what were known to be the last remaining direct-fired ‘coppers’ to be used in Britain and the brewery’s 130ft red brick chimney is also listed.

Speaking about the agreement to sell the Caledonian Brewery site, a Heineken UK spokesperson said: “We are pleased that a developer of Artisan’s pedigree and experience will now take the site forward” and assured that the new plans for the building would soon meet “the varied demands of modern and sustainable city centre living”.

Responding to the drinks business, regarding concerns for what the sale and proposed development would mean for the historic site, a spokesperson for Heineken added: “As this process unfolds, we encourage community members to actively contribute to the dialogue which will shape the future of the Caledonian Brewery site.”

The spokesperson told db that Heineken was “pleased” that Artisan had “expressed the intention to honour the brewery’s unique heritage and character throughout the development process” which “includes preserving and restoring listed buildings, such as the brewhouse and maltings”.