Fran Cruse, PR and marketing officer, Richard Smith, MD, and Amanda Rennie, The McEwan general manager
(pic: Terry Murden)
Scotland’s first Moda Living development, dubbed a “next generation neighbourhood”, is due to welcome its first tenants in November, promising a new style of rental accommodation.
It will be known as The McEwan, comprising a block of 476 apartments on the site of the former brewery in Fountainbridge, and includes a cinema, private dining room, communal lounges and work from home spaces. It requires no deposits, no fees and the ability to move in within 48 hours. There is a 24-hour concierge.
At a social event held at the nearby Moxy Hotel to update on progress, the company’s managing director Richard Smith said the level of enquiries in the £215 million development had been very high.
“We will be one-third pre-let by the time it opens at the end of the year,” he said. “It’s higher than elsewhere because it is the only one in Scotland.”
The lounge area and outdoor terrace
The McEwan occupies the site of the former Fountain Brewery
The company, based in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, has a Moda Living development in Manchester. The next will open this month in Liverpool and another 433 apartments are due to complete in Glasgow in 2023.
The Edinburgh apartment block, featuring a range of studios and one and two beds through to three-bed duplexes, takes its name from William McEwan whose Fountain Brewery opened on the site in 1856 and became the largest single ownership brewery in Britain, producing two million barrels a year.
The new Moda development has chalked up a record of its own, being the only residential building in Europe to be awarded a 3-star Fitwell rating, the world’s top certification system committed to healthy living. Apart from “noise cancelling walls”, a gym, and landscaped gardens there is access to mental health professionals, yoga classes and other wellbeing workshops.
Relaxation and wellbeing is a key factor in the Moda model
There will be more than 100 co-working spaces and residents will also have full access to bookable meeting rooms with coffee stations and super-fast wi-fi.
Amanda Rennie, general manager for The McEwan, said: “Moda is a hospitality-led landlord. Your rent will give you far more than just four walls.”
Richard Smith with dancers at social event (pic: Terry Murden)
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