The £50 million overhaul will see the B-listed property subdivided to form a 50,000sq/ft retail unit fronting onto both Princes Street and Rose Street, a 140 bed hotel and a ‘destination’ rooftop restaurant.

The current shop is scheduled for closure after the company went into administration earlier this year.

The linked Rose Street building would be demolished and rebuilt one storey higher, with two ground-floor retail or restaurant units and a hotel entrance all fronting on to Rose Street.

And the upper floors of both buildings would become the hotel.

CDA Architects have been appointed to the refurbishment project which is being undertaken by LaSalle Investment Management on behalf of the British Coal Pension Fund.

Steve Spray, fund manager at LaSalle Investment Management, said: “We have received proposals from major fashion retailers for the redeveloped Princes Street store and offers from high-quality hoteliers for the upper parts of the development, which have been mostly redundant for decades.

“This is a fantastic location and it can be a really good flagship retail store and improve the retail offering in this part of Princes Street.

“The rooftop restaurant opportunity has already attracted interest from some of the world’s leading restaurateurs and would give spectacular and unrivalled views of the Old Town. I could see it becoming a tourist attraction in its own right.”

A pre-application notification has already been filed pending a formal planning application next year but completion isn’t expected until 2019 at the earliest.