Andrew Doolan, Architect
b. 17 Jul 1951, Glasgow d. 27 Apr 2004, Edinburgh



Key Andrew Doolan building : Point Hotel, Edinburgh

Famous Andrew Doolan House - award-winning Dick Place

Other Projects:
Point Hotel
City Travel Inn
Point Conference Centre

Andrew Doolan Architect - Background:
Andrew Doolan, grew up in Kirkintilloch; after a spell in the fire service he
became an apprentice architect.

Andrew Doolan (popularily known simply as Andy) died on 27th April 2004 of respiratory failure leaving long-term partner Marion Caldwell [an advocate at the Scottish Bar], Pauline Shirlaw, his family and staff at the Point Hotel. Andrew was a famous Scottish architect, property developer and
hotelier, a self-made millionaire. Doolan not only designed and ran his
own hotels, but also sponsored the UK's largest architecture prize, since renamed Andrew Doolan Award for Architecture.

The EAA Silver Medal 2003 was won by Andrew Doolan Architects for the design of 31B Dick Place, announced on 30 May 2004, a few days after his untimely
death. The first Silver Medal awarded in 1984, was won by Andrew Doolan /
Kantel for St Anne’s Brewery Conversion to Flats, Calton Road, Edinburgh: Andrew Doolan building


Andrew Doolan + Kantel:
Doolan carried out work on around 50 buildings. Born in Glasgow, the son of a miner, Mr Doolan left school with one A-level, in engineering drawing. He joined the fire service in Stirling then got a job as an apprentice architect and attended night school to gain qualifications which allowed him to attend Leeds School of Architecture.

Andrew Doolan attended Leeds School of Architecture. After his studies he formed Kantel, a property development company with a strong architectural slant. Doolan began a series of regeneration projects in Edinburgh’s Southside (Andrew purchased and restored twelve down-at-heel properties)
and Merchant City Glasgow. Kantel’s conversion of the former Blair Brewery, Calton Road won the EAA Bronze Medal in 1984.
Doolan successfully refurbished a disused bank building on the Royal Mile into the nine-bedroom Bank Hotel, working with the late Rob Hunter and Malcolm Fraser, Architect. The refurbishment was subtle - it hardly stands out now compared to his two later Hotels west of the Old Town - but welcome in the down-at-heel Old Town and beside the pastiche of the Scandic Crown Hotel. Andrew Doolan sold this Hotel to assist purchase and development of The Point Hotel.

Doolan went on to convert the [former] Old St Cuthbert's Co-operative Association Ltd. Showroom building (by TP Marnick & Son, 1937, Bread Street, into the Point Hotel. This hotel came to be Andrew Doolan’s power base and also his best known project, popular with architects and handy for business people due to its proximity to the Financial zone of the Exchange and EICC.

The Point proved to be successful so Doolan purchased the next block.
Another fifty rooms were added. The Hotel expanded west again in a glass
curtain wall elevation from 1937, LazerQuest, which now fronts 50 further
bedrooms and the Point Conference Centre.
Andrew also developed the Travel Inn in Morrison Street, a joint venture
with Whitbread.
Andrew Doolan sponsored the RIAS Best Building in Scotland Award with a
£25,000 prize.
Doolan planned to build another hotel in Edinburgh made from glass.
Andrew Doolan is survived by his mother, his sisters and his fiancée and
long-term partner, Marion Caldwell. Doolan was a Fellow of the RIAS.



Andrew Doolan Architects Exhibition
RIAS, 15 Rutland Square, Edinburgh

As a former wine waiter* I wondered for a moment what I was here to review. I resisted the amaretto biscuits as dinner-time neared and plumped for the chilled white wine.
Deftly self-served into a generous glass (entirely at one with the Doolan look) I decided to set off around the exhibition. Looking around, I spied a large screen that appeared to have been purloined straight from the Point Conference Centre.
On closer inspection I noted two holes of different sizes had been left out of which shone looping clips from, well, the Point of course. I peeked round the back of the screen but sadly it was just a web of gadgetry. I sipped some more and decided to give it a 5 out of 10 (another viewer agreed that 5 seemed very fair). As for the exhibition rating, I'm not sure where to begin: the narrative was purely visual leaving one to guess what Mr Doolan was saying as he wafted in front of the Conference panoramic. Some might point out that this is a neat touch; personally I would have liked to hear him talk, quietly.
In summary the exhibition had a rarefied, Doolanesque air and generous refreshments. I am interested to hear what fellow architects thought about the show. I've already got a brochure.

Andrew Doolan, Architect: Review by Adrian Welch
Nov 12-30, 2001

* for nine years part-time, serving the Duke of Edinburgh, Elton John, Spice Girls, The Three Degrees, Pavarotti, Stephen Fry, Sylvester Stallone, Ronnie Corbett, Vick Reeves, Bob Mortimer, Sting, Boris Becker, Cleo Lane, George Melly, Mariella Frostrup, Angus Deayton, Gazza, Chris Evans (helped him look for his baseball cap!), Margaret Thatcher (twice), Lord Rothschild (twice), Jason Connery, Dave Stewart (CD launch, head barman), George Martin, Paul Merton, Ian Hislop, Lucinda Lambton, Kylie Minogue, Michael Bolton, Brian Lara, Michael Atherton, Alex Ferguson, Rula Lenska, Ian Rankin, the cast of Coronation Street, the Inspiral Carpets , etc, etc, and finishing up as Head Waiter (very briefly) under a certain Tony Singh at the Royal Yacht Britannia! Who was the best celeb to talk to? Sting. And the worst? Elton.

Andrew Doolan House : EAA Awards for Architecture 2004 - Silver Medal, Dick Place



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Crerar & Partners worked as Implementation Architects on the Edinburgh Travel Inn with Andy Doolan Architects

Andrew Doolan buildings - page : adrian welch / isabelle lomholt