Edinburgh's St James Quarter hit by flooding days after opening

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Jul 5, 2021

A new billion-pound shopping centre has been hit by flash flooding only days after it officially opened. The destination St James Quarter in Edinburgh was damaged at the weekend after Scotland’s capital suffered very heavy rain.

In something of a PR nightmare, the newly-opened development suffered leaks as a result of the flash floods with shoppers posting photos on social media showing wet-floor signs and staff mopping up.

The centre is home to a large number of mass-market and upscale stores, including John Lewis, H&M, JD Sports, Next, Pandora, Russell & Bromley, Zara, Calvin Klein and more. Most of the recent store openings announced in Edinburgh have been at the location.

A St James Quarter spokeswoman said: “Due to the severe weather in Edinburgh, parts of the St James Quarter Galleria were cordoned off for safety reasons. St James Quarter has been built to fully integrate with the city’s streetscape and is not an enclosed building. 

“Whilst St James Quarter has been designed as a naturally ventilated environment and allows some rain to come into the galleria, the extent of water ingress in two sections was mainly caused by severe rainfall testing areas within the second phase of opening which are still under construction.”