Designating Tollcross Fire Station, Edinburgh

From 12 September to 17 October 2023, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) sought views on our proposal to designate Tollcross Fire Station in Edinburgh as a category B listed building.  

The building was constructed in 1986 as the as the central control unit for the Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service. It was designed by the Department of Architectural Services at Lothian Regional Council and is a notable example of public-sector architecture in Scotland from the 1980s.

Tollcross is an exceptional example of a fire station for its late-20th century date and incorporates an unusual, curved drill tower to the rear. Its striking design is both highly functional and artistic, taking elements of traditional Scottish architecture and re-interpreting them in a playful way. It is an early and important example of Postmodern architecture in Scotland.

We received two responses to the consultation, one in favour of the listing and one against. The respondents provided the following comments:

The Twentieth Century Society noted that they were strongly in support of the proposed listing as the building is “…an excellent and significant exemplar of early post-modernist expression in Scotland.” They made further comments supporting the special architectural and historic interest of the building and provided more information about the artist responsible for the relief sculpture.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (the owners) objected to the listing proposal as they had concerns that the consents that listing may incur could compromise or delay necessary changes to the building for operational purposes. They also included individual reactions from station personnel. Two noted they were in favour of listing, and one noted they were not.

We considered the responses carefully and further considered the special interest of the building.  

We have now listed Tollcross Fire Station in Edinburgh as a category B listed building. The listed building record is available on our Heritage Portal, where the final Report of Handling is also available.  

Our historic environment is always changing. Listing does not prevent change, but it does allow for a structure’s special character to be taken into account when changes are proposed.