St James Quarter, Edinburgh

The industry is evolving towards mixed-use developments that prioritise community integration, cultural enrichment, and economic regeneration, all while adapting to new retail, leisure, and hospitality trends.

St James Quarter exemplifies this vision. A game-changing mixed-use urban regeneration, the largest transformation in a generation and one of the most significant city centre redevelopments in Europe — it is a model for future urban development.The £1bn development integrates 850,000 sq ft of retail and leisure space, introducing iconic brands like Lego, & Other Stories, and Harrods Beauty to Scotland for the first time. It goes beyond retail, incorporating the UK’s second W Hotels, a Roomzzz Aparthotel, residential apartments, Everyman Cinema, and Scotland’s first food market, “Bonnie & Wild,” all seamlessly connected to Edinburgh’s transport network, cultural calendar, and historic fabric within a World Heritage site.

As principal communications advisor to Nuveen since the start of the project, our brief was to manage a multifaceted programme to tell the regeneration story and integrate it into Edinburgh’s fabric — physically, culturally, and socially — through impactful, relevant communication for all phases of the development lifecycle. We worked to shape a communications approach to successfully secure planning consent, attract investment and brand partners, secure pre-lets, manage the closure of the centre, maintain excitement through demolition and construction as well as coordinating the phased opening of the development to the public.

We focused on creating a master programme to drive all communication and activations. Key to delivering this programme was challenging all partners, brands and the client team to drive innovation and authenticity. From creating brand strategies to managing the press and media, from running stakeholder events and using new and breakthrough channels, this shared initiative fostered a spirit of collaboration and partnership.

The result was continuity and connection of narrative across all channels and tailored to each audience, driving the positioning of a destination that has redefined what it means to be world-class. That’s why our work mattered; St James Quarter is not only a transformational project for Edinburgh but a blueprint for other cities looking to redefine themselves.