Dunard Centre – A new home for music.
The Dunard Centre is a new 1,000-seat concert hall under construction in Edinburgh, close to St Andrew Square in the city’s New Town. Designed by David Chipperfield Architects, with Reiach and Hall Architects and acoustics by Nagata Acoustics, the venue is scheduled for completion in 2029. This page follows the construction of the Dunard Centre through regular photographs and updates as the building takes shape.
Despite Edinburgh’s international reputation for music and the performing arts, the city has not had a purpose-built concert hall constructed for more than a century.
The Dunard Centre is intended to change that.
Dunard Centre construction – 25 August 2026
At its heart will be a 1,000-seat auditorium, designed for excellent acoustics and capable of accommodating a wide range of performances. Classical music will be important, but the building is being designed for much more than orchestral concerts, with plans for folk, jazz, rock, pop, electronica and spoken-word performances.
The building will also contain bars, workshop spaces and recording facilities, allowing it to function throughout the day rather than simply opening its doors when a concert begins.
The Scottish Chamber Orchestra will make the new concert hall its Edinburgh home, while the building will also become an important venue for the Edinburgh International Festival.
Where is the Dunard Centre?
The site is tucked behind the historic Royal Bank of Scotland building at 36 St Andrew Square, occupying a surprisingly large piece of land in the centre of Edinburgh’s New Town.
For decades, a five-storey computer building the bank built in the 1960s occupied much of the site. After this became redundant, it was dismantled as part of the enabling works for the concert hall development.
Its removal revealed a large hidden site behind the familiar buildings of St Andrew Square.
The location presents an interesting architectural challenge. This is not an isolated development on the edge of Edinburgh, but a substantial modern building being inserted into the historic fabric of the city’s UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Who Designed the Dunard Centre?
David Chipperfield Architects designed the concert hall in collaboration with Edinburgh-based Reiach and Hall Architects.
Particular attention is being paid to the acoustics.
Nagata Acoustics, the internationally known acoustic consultancy behind concert halls worldwide, is developing these. The Dunard Centre will be the first concert hall in the United Kingdom designed by Nagata.
The intention is to create a relatively intimate relationship between musicians and audience, rather than the sense of distance sometimes found in much larger concert halls.
Building the Dunard Centre
Dunard Centre construction – 25 August 2026
Following years of planning, design work, funding discussions and site preparation, the main construction contract was awarded to Balfour Beatty in 2025.
The contract was valued at £162 million, with funding coming from a mix of private philanthropy and public investment, including support through the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal.
A groundbreaking ceremony on 1 December 2025 formally marked the beginning of the four-year construction programme. By June 2026, an important early stage was already complete.
A total of 244 piles had been installed to form the building’s structural base. Excavation then began for a basement extending approximately 10 metres below ground level. Around 36,000 cubic metres of material is expected to be removed during this phase of the work.
With tower cranes appearing above the site, what had for years been largely an unseen space behind St Andrew Square is gradually becoming one of the most visible construction projects in central Edinburgh.
A Concert Hall in the Heart of the City
The construction will be interesting to watch not simply because of the building itself, but because of its location.
St Andrew Square lies at the eastern end of George Street and forms one of the key spaces of Edinburgh’s Georgian New Town. Nearby are the Edinburgh Bus Station, St James Quarter, Waverley Station and Princes Street.
Thousands of people therefore pass close to the construction site every day.
When complete, the concert hall should introduce another cultural use into an area that has changed considerably in recent decades, as hotels, restaurants, shops and leisure developments have increasingly joined traditional banking and office buildings.
The project will also create new pedestrian routes through a part of the city centre which, despite its central location, was inaccessible to the public for generations.
Construction Timeline
2024 – Enabling works clear the former Royal Bank of Scotland computer building and prepare the site.
October 2025 – Main construction contract with Balfour Beatty announced.
1 December 2025 – Groundbreaking ceremony marks the formal start of construction.
June 2026 – Installation of 244 structural piles completed and excavation of the basement begins.
2026–2028 – Main structure takes shape.
2029 – Practical completion of the Dunard Centre is currently expected.
Dunard Centre on Social Media.
Access permitting, I will add further photographs and construction updates to this page as the development progresses.
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