Argyle House: Plans to demolish Edinburgh's 'ugliest building' that featured on Netflix's Dept Q

A proposal of application notice (PAN) for Argyle House submitted to Edinburgh City Council outlines plans for the "demolition of the existing building and redevelopment of [the] site".

The proposals state Argyle House, situated on Castle Terrace, would be replaced by a "mixed-use" development comprising “residential, hotel and office use, with ancillary commercial spaces, associated open space, car parking landscaping and ancillary works”.

The rear of the annexe, at West Port near Edinburgh Castle, featured in exterior shots of the police station in Dept Q, starring actor Matthew Goode.

The building is also home to tech workspace Codebase.

However, it is understood CodeBase, which had just negotiated a one-year renewal of its lease, had no prior warning of the plans. The company has had to scramble to issue messages of reassurance to the 80-plus small businesses based at the building,

Around 900 people work for companies based at Argyle House, including the CodeBase team.

A CodeBase spokesperson said: “We have reassured tenants that this is the very start of what is typically a long process, and there is no immediate impact on CodeBase or our community.

“We remain secure in Argyle House for at least the next year, and we’re continuing to work towards a longer-term commitment that ensures the future of CodeBase Edinburgh, whether that be at Argyle House or elsewhere.”

Argyle House, built between 1966 and 1969, has regularly been named as one of Edinburgh's least attractive pieces of architecture. The block was sold to US firm PGIM Real Estate for about £38 million in 2023.

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Dept Q made its debut earlier this year and there are now plans for a second season.

The Netflix show was initially set in Copenhagen and is based on the books by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen.

Two public consultation events on the proposed demolition will be held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute, on December 2 and January 28.

The plans will bring a new period of uncertainty for companies based in the building. CodeBase had been engaged in lease renewal negotiations with the landlord since last year and, because the lease was set to expire on November 23 and the outcome of the negotiations was unresolved, CodeBase was legally obliged to issue termination notices to tenants who had notice periods in place.

There are also other tenants in the 11-storey office block, including Edinburgh University.

The Cockburn Association once described it as one of the worst example's of the city's 1960s office blocks.

The building was used as government offices for a long time and also served as an annexe for Edinburgh Sheriff Court. And it has twice achieved stardom, both in Dept Q and also for featuring in 2023 in a similar role in the TV version of Irvine Welsh’s novel Crime.