Edinburgh International Film Festival hub tower to be smaller

A £50m cinema complex that would become the home of the Edinburgh International Film Festival is to be reduced in height by two storeys.

The plans for the new Edinburgh Filmhouse on Festival Square, Lothian Road, have been amended following a four-month public consultation.

The planning application was submitted to Edinburgh City Council on Monday.

The height of the hub's tower has been reduced to bring it into line with a neighbouring office block.

Initial plans revealed earlier this year showed a tower with two extra stacks.

Half of the 11-storey building is planned to be underground with the design above street level based on the shape of an eye.

It is estimated that the New Filmhouse will attract more than 800,000 individual visits every year.

The existing Filmhouse is in a 190-year-old listed church building and cannot be redeveloped.

A decision is expected by early summer 2021. If successful, construction could start in 2023 for completion in 2025.

Ken Hay, chief executive of Centre for the Moving Image (which incorporates Filmhouse and Edinburgh International Film Festival) said: "We want the New Filmhouse to be the catalyst that transforms Festival Square so that it becomes a used and exciting public space."