Thursday July 2nd 2026
St Andrew Square
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Joe Sullivan
St Andrew Square is set for some changes as Edinburgh Council has set out a tender for an estimated £2.75m remake for the roads around it.
In a contract tender published Wednesday, the council announced plans to deliver ‘public realm’ improvements to the streets around the square.
According to proposals, the northern and western sides of the square would get protected, two-way cycle lanes.
Along St David Street, the cycleway would hug the eastern side of the road, while it would track the northern side of the road immediately north of the square.
Also to the north of the square, pay and display spaces would be removed, and replaced with blue badge spaces on the northern side of the road.
Along the south side of the square, the tender states that ‘existing blue badge parking, business loading and taxi rank spaces’ would be retained, with ‘additional capacity added’.
Junction works to support ‘safer, easier and more accessible’ movements for people walking, cycling and using wheelchairs would also be implemented around the square.
In addition, a stretch of pavement would be widened to six metres, creating more space for public realm improvements.
The council states the changes are a part of several active travel projects, intended to provide safe routes for movement on foot, bike or wheelchair through the city.
These include the City Centre to West End Link, and the George Street to Waverley Bridge active travel project.
In the tender, the council states the project will provide a continuous link between several ongoing projects, while retaining parking, loading and public transport access in the square.
Also, it states that completing the work would increase the attractiveness of the square, and encourage people to spend time both in the square and nearby businesses.
Edinburgh Council does not own St Andrew Square itself, which is instead owned by a number of private entities and managed by a body called Essential Edinburgh.
However, the council does own the roadways around the square.
The council is seeking responses to the tender by July 30.
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