So I was in Edinburgh recently for a family wedding and got put up for the week in an incredibly swanky $1200/night condo rental in the "Quartermile" development in downtown Edinburgh. Not only was it incredibly luxurious, but it had a magnificent view overlooking the courtyard of the old Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh complex - a jaw-droppingly beautiful 19th century hospital complex which is being selectively demolished / converted to high-end condos. From the moment I looked out the window I knew that if I did even 1 thing in my time there, it had to involve getting the fuck inside of that gorgeous building.
My opportune vantage afforded the rare ability to spend a lot of time scoping the site and observing the behavior of the security guards, which to my immense disappointment were incredibly vigilante, and made regular rounds at all hours of the day and night. Including at 3:30 morning as I left my wife in bed to watch from our balcony, hoping not to see them.
Along with confirmed 24/7 patrols, those Scots sure know a thing or two about
properly securing a construction site! All fences were at least 12ft tall, every single gate was solidly built and perfectly flush to the ground with no gaps or potholes and there were lights at all major entrances. To their immense credit, without some awkward climbing in plain view of the downtown core there were no ways inside. Compounding all of these things was the fact that the site is totally active, with dozens and dozens of workers coming and going at all hours of the day and night, 6 or 7 days a week.
It's funny, how humbling it is to stumble across a legitimately "secure" site, when you're generally accustomed to lazy Canadian builders who think that a temporary fence butted up against a shrub is "good enough". With few options, and nobody to help encourage a reckless plan, I was running out of both motivation and time.
At dinner on the last night I was talking to a family friend about my thus far fruitless plans, and he eagerly offered to come along for one last try. We met up around 11:30 and walked the short distance to the most promising entrance, enjoying the relative anonymity afforded by a light drizzle. Even the usual parade of rambling drunkards had tapered to off to inconsequence. Knowing that security could be walking along at any moment, we said "fuck it" and started climbing, awkwardly scaling the holdless fence in what seemed like an eternity. Our flight home was at 4:00am the next morning, and even if we just got inside for 30 minutes we'd both walk away happy.
After sprinting past a dozen or more sealed entrances we finally discovered an open door and hustled in, away from any prying eyes. Immediately upon entry the charming odors of rotting drywall, asbestos, bird shit and black mold came on in thick and pleasant waves. I fucking love that smell.
An obviously annoyed pigeon squawked noisily away as we rounded the first corner, causing both of us to nearly shit our pants. We didn't care. We were in.
The early morning flight and probably-waiting-up-for-us spouses meant we could only explore a few floors of a single ward building, but it was still just as picturesque as I'd hoped. While the equipment had been largely stripped away, it was still great to explore such an old and historic structure - I'm truly jealous of anyone who got in here shortly after it closed in 2001. Apparently most of the equipment was so outdated that it was left intact when they moved to a new building.
Despite it's truly massive scale and central location in the city, there's no info on this place in the UEDB (no entries at all for Edinburgh, actually!). If anyone knows anything else about this site, or better yet, would like to contribute some of their own photos, I'd be both grateful and fascinated.
While it's sad to see incredible old heritage buildings like this sit dormant, it's nice to see that the builders were compelled to restore and preserve large swathes of the original structure. It will be interesting to see the Quartermile development when it's completed, many years from now. Oh well, just another reason to go back
Sorry for the long-winded ramble....enjoy the photos!
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
#6
#7
#8
#9
#10
#11
#12
For the full set and more, check my website -
www.tohellandback.net 
order your copy of Access All Areas today!
2 is gorgeous! and, 6 is Amazing! A trip to ALWAYS remember! 
