As investigators and loss adjusters prowl round the charred remains of the Debenhams' store on Edinburgh’s Princes Street, it was initially thought only to be a matter of processing the paperwork before the building was declared kaput.

But no, it appears now that the Grade B listed façade can be saved and it’s just a question of propping it up and everything can get back to approaching normality. Similarly, more of the interior can be preserved, with the old staircase and stained glass window intact.

Glad tidings for the Cockburn Association and lovers of Victoriana, but whether it’s such great news for everyone else rather depends on taste and fear of the unknown of what might have replaced it – plans for replacing the West Port’s ugly Argyle House, for example, will divide opinion.

Council insiders insist there was no choice but to make every effort to save the Debenhams building, and that’s probably fair, but the need to work around delicate listed features certainly complicates the project. But no-one is going to shed a tear if it costs the current owner, billionaire property tycoon Asif Aziz, a few bob more to turn it into Scotland’s first Zedwell hotel. And paper hankies won’t be required if he sells up and his company, Criterion Capital, achieves a lower price than might have been achieved from a vacant site.

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Ownership and sale price aside, to get the site back into profitable use as quickly as possible, it might have........

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