Edinburgh council considers plans to demolish Dept Q police station

Plans to demolish a building featured in Netflix drama Dept Q have been put before City of Edinburgh Council.

Argyle House could be replaced by a “mixed-use” development featuring a hotel, residential properties, office and retail space.

The brutalist 1960s block, at West Port in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle, was used for the exterior shots of the police station in the streaming giant’s series.

Public consultations on the proposals are due to be held in December and January.

A proposal of application notice (PAN) submitted to the local authority lays out plans for “demolition of the existing building and redevelopment of site”.

Argyle House, built between 1966 and 1969, has frequently been cited as one of Edinburgh’s least attractive pieces of architecture.

The block was sold to US firm PGIM Real Estate for about £38m ($47m) in 2023.

It was initially built to house local and national government offices, but is now home to a variety of different firms.

The front of the building was also the headquarters of the fictional Lothian Police force in the ITV series Crime, written by Irvine Welsh.

Meanwhile the rear annexe, on Johnston Terrace, is home to tech workspace Codebase and was used in Dept Q, which debuted on Netflix earlier this year.

It was initially set in Copenhagen and based on the books by Danish writer Jussi Adler-Olsen, but the location was moved to Edinburgh before it made the jump to the small screen.

In August, Netflix announced the series starring Matthew Goode cold case department leader DCI Carl Morck would return for a second season.

Two public consultation events on the proposed demolition will be held at the Edinburgh Futures Institute from on 2 December and 28 January 2026.