'Business as usual' for HBOS hub

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Plans for a huge HBOS hub in the heart of Edinburgh have not been affected by the takeover by Lloyds TSB.

HBOS said it was "business as usual" and nothing had changed with proposals for the former Scottish and Newcastle site in the capital's Fountainbridge.

The bank bought the site a few months ago for an undisclosed sum.

It hopes to merge its 16 Edinburgh buildings and 6,000 staff into the new campus, but will keep its international headquarters on The Mound.

'Nothing changed'

It will be seven or eight years before the project is complete and a couple of years before building work starts.

Part of the site may also be developed commercially or residentially.

An HBOS spokesman said: "Nothing has changed. It's business as usual."

Back in March HBOS announced it had entered into "exclusive" discussions with Scottish & Newcastle to buy part of the Fountainbridge site despite a rival consortium of three firms, including Royal Bank of Scotland, believing it had secured the site.

The consortium, known as Springside, had already bought up the former S&N bottling and distribution plant across the road, and is currently building the first phase of new flats in a new "urban village".

The next stage involved purchasing the main brewery site, for which it was the preferred bidder before HBOS made its interest public.