JOHN KNOX HOUSE, 45 HIGH STREET, EDINBURGH

John Knox House dates back to 1470, which makes it and Moubray House attached, the oldest, original medieval building surviving on the Royal Mile. It is an important and rare survival of a medieval house, having escaped calls for its demolition first in 1794, then in the 1850s and again in the 1950s. The connection with John Knox is significant and, although he may or may not have lived in the house, the persistent association has undoubtedly helped prevent its demise during successive periods of 'improvement'. Instead, the mid 19th century conservation campaign to save the building was one of the first of its kind in Scotland.

The luckenbuiths (stone stalls) on the ground floor, once open to the High Street, are the only surviving examples of medieval shops in Scotland.

LAMB’S HOUSE, LEITH, EDINBURGH

This substantial four storey Hanseatic Merchant’s house, built in 1610, is an example of early-17th-century architecture typical of harbour towns around the North Sea. It has white-harled walls with stone margins, multiple crow-stepped and wallhead gables, a steeply-sloping pantiled roof, an assortment of chimney-stacks, and half-glazed windows of varying shapes, sizes and positions.

It is category A-listed and lies within the medieval core of the Leith Conservation Area, close to the old harbour.

SCOTTISH PARLIAMENT BUILDING, EDINBURGH

The Scottish Parliament Building (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid na h-Alba) is home to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, within the UNESCO World Heritage Site in central Edinburgh.

Construction commenced in 1999 and opened in 2004. This complex building was hailed on opening as one of the most innovative designs in Britain today.

Enric Miralles, the Spanish architect who designed the building, drew inspiration from the surrounding landscape, the flower paintings by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and the upturned boats on the seashore, to develop a design from a mixture of steel, oak, and granite that he said was a building "growing out of the land".