Investment manager Baillie Gifford’s new global headquarters at Haymarket in Edinburgh has won a CoStar Impact Award, chosen by an independent panel of judges, as part of one of the biggest and most significant commercial developments to be delivered in Edinburgh in a generation.
About the project: Designed by Foster and Partners, the 280,000-square-foot building sets a new benchmark for Grade A office accommodation in Scotland. Secured on a 20‑year lease in 2020, the development was conceived as a future‑ready headquarters, bringing Baillie Gifford’s Edinburgh workforce together under one roof and reinforcing confidence in the city as a global financial and investment centre.
The delivery programme has extended beyond its original target, with the move-in delayed by three years, but following completion and ownership transfer in 2025, Baillie Gifford has now started its internal fit‑out.
Flexibility is central to the building’s design. Its scale and configuration allow for efficient space management over time, including introducing additional occupiers. In March 2026, it announced a sublease to EY of 38,000 square feet on the second floor.
It is part of a mixed-use £350 million project revitalising the area around Haymarket station, delivered by M&G Real Estate and its property development partner Qmile Group which prelet all 390,000 square feet of offices in 2022.
What the judges said: Nick White, co-founder and director at CuthbertWhite, said: "To prelet 280,000 square feet during Covid to an expanding Edinburgh-headquartered business of true international scale is breath-taking whilst the positive impact it has had on the surrounding Haymarket area is tangible."
They made it happen: Paul Curran, managing director at Quartermile, and Martin Towns, global head of real estate, M&G Real Estate, for the owners. Norman Foster, senior executive partner - architect, Foster + Partners, was the architect