Millions of pounds worth of damage was caused

At 2000 GMT on 7 December last year, 150 fire fighters took two days to put out the fire which destroyed a seven storey building on the Cowgate.

The blaze was described as the most devastating in the capital.

Since the incident, eight of the affected businesses formed a consortium to consider a replacement building.

Although no lives were lost in the fire, businesses, ranging from an amusement arcade to the Gilded Balloon comedy club, were completely destroyed.

A year later, negotiations over the fate of the site continue.

Some businesses were only tenants and have no legal rights.

But the consortium, including the University of Edinburgh, have commissioned a feasibility study, with results expected in the spring.

It is still not know what caused the blaze, which resutled in millions of pounds worth of damage to more than a dozen properties in linked premises up to seven storeys high.

It is believed to have started close to La Belle Angele nightclub in the Cowgate.