The Edinburgh building that doubles as police headquarters in Netflix hit Dept. Q could be demolished under major redevelopment plans featuring hundreds of new homes and hotel rooms.
Argyle House, the imposing 1960s office block beneath Edinburgh Castle, has become familiar to millions of viewers as the headquarters of the fictional police force in the acclaimed crime drama starring Matthew Goode.
Now developers have submitted detailed plans to Edinburgh City Council to demolish the building and replace it with a new residential, hotel and business quarter.
The proposals include 130 homes, a 244-bedroom hotel, 156 long-stay aparthotel rooms and around 9,500 square metres of office space.
The development would transform a prominent part of Edinburgh’s Old Town, with new buildings overlooking Castle Terrace, West Port and Lady Lawson Street.
Developers Henderson Herd and Mayfly Capital say they want to create an “elegant, connected residential and business quarter” that will open up a site currently dominated by the sprawling concrete office complex.
The plans include restoring the historic Baird’s Close, creating a new pedestrian route between West Port and King’s Stables Road.
A public lift would connect Castle Terrace to King’s Stables Road, while landscaped gardens, courtyards and a pocket park would provide new public spaces.
Argyle House was built in the late 1960s and has long divided opinion in Edinburgh.
Its brutalist architecture has frequently attracted criticism, but the building has found a new audience through its appearances on television.
In Dept. Q, the building serves as the police headquarters where DCI Carl Morck, played by Matthew Goode, leads a team investigating unsolved crimes from a basement office.
The Netflix adaptation moved the action from Copenhagen, the setting of Danish author Jussi Adler-Olsen’s bestselling novels, to Edinburgh.
The building also appeared as the headquarters of the fictional Lothian Police in the television adaptation of Irvine Welsh’s Crime.
The proposed demolition has prompted opposition from architects and campaigners who believe Argyle House deserves protection.
Edinburgh architect Malcolm Fraser has described it as “a distinguished modernist building” and argued that demolition would be “madness”.
Historic Environment Scotland concluded that Argyle House met the criteria for designation as a building of special architectural or historic interest, but declined to grant listed status because redevelopment proposals were already being advanced.
The developers argue that the building is approaching the end of its useful life.
They say structural assessments identified problems including low floor-to-ceiling heights, foundations that would restrict major alterations and the need for extensive fire safety upgrades.
Argyle House is currently home to technology incubator CodeBase and other businesses, with around 900 people working in the building.
Its existing headlease runs until 2033, meaning demolition is not expected in the immediate future.
The building’s potential disappearance has also presented an unusual problem for the makers of Dept. Q, which has returned to Edinburgh to film its second series.
The production team has reportedly carried out digital scans of Argyle House so that its distinctive exterior could be recreated if the series continues beyond the building’s demolition.
The redevelopment proposals are now awaiting assessment by Edinburgh City Council.