Moat And Boundary Walls, Including Landscaping, Scottish Widows Fund And Life Assurance Society Head Office, 15, 15B And 15C Dalkeith Road

The building is an office complex constructed between 1972 and 1976, designed by Sir Basil Spence, Glover & Ferguson, with John Hardie Glover and John Legge as partners-in-charge, Norman Arthur as project architect, Dame Sylvia Crowe as landscape architect, and Ove Arup & Partners as structural engineers. It is an example of modern Expressionist architecture, composed of interconnected hexagonal prisms that vary in height from one to four storeys. The building is reinforced concrete with a continuous curtain wall of brown solar glass in metal frames, and pilotis partially support the block to the southwest, providing bridge access to the main western entrance and a staff restaurant to the east. Ground-level car parking is located under the pilotis to the south, and a double-height car park is concealed beneath landscaped terraces and a sunken garden to the east. A basement service area, located to the north, features metal shutters.

The exterior glazing is double-skinned, featuring brown solar glass and previously operational venetian blinds within the cavity. Mullions are made of manganese bronze, while the base courses are of riven York stone and the pilotis are of exposed concrete. The shallow-pitched roofs are covered in zinc.

The interior primarily consists of open-plan office spaces arranged around two hexagonal service cores that contain lifts, stairs, lavatories, and individual offices. A sub-basement houses plant equipment, a goods yard, and a double-height staff restaurant, which features a dedication inscription within the stone-faced walls and a ceiling of hexagonal prisms (partially obscured by a lowered ceiling). The basement includes car parking, storage, and a coffee lounge. The front service core contains an entrance hall with a revolving door of glass and steel. A separate staircase, previously leading to a first-floor panelled board room, was relocated to the third floor in 2014. Stone paving is used in the entrance hall and lift halls, with walls of the staircase clad in riven York stone. Balustrades and handrails are steel.

The landscape design incorporates extensive planting of trees, shrubs, and lawns to the north and south, with decorative rocks and boulders. Sunken gardens and ascending terraces to the east conceal the car park building with rocks and plants. A moat surrounds the building to the south and west, lined with large pebbles, a feature that is also repeated inside. A battered, riven York stone boundary wall with triangular coping runs along the western edge (facing Holyrood Park Road) and the southern edge (facing Dalkeith Road), while the northern boundary is marked by a metal fence.