University unveils plans for new buildings fit for King's

THE University of Edinburgh has laid out its plans for the multimillion-pound transformation of its King's Buildings campus.

The 49-acre site on the corner of Mayfield Road and West Mains Road houses the University's College of Science and Engineering and comprises a mixture of 50 buildings of different ages, including converted hen houses.

While some of the existing buildings will be retained, several will be knocked down to make way for around 18 state-of-the-art research and teaching facilities. The plan would also see the creation of a "green heart" area to form a social focus for students and staff with landscaping, a library and study facilities.

Improved parking facilities will encourage the 1500 staff and 5000 students to park on-site rather than on neighbouring roads.

The university's senior estates development manager Alasdair McKim said: "It's developed in quite an ad hoc way over the years because some of the funding we get for buildings is from research funding and so comes in on an ad hoc basis, and that's something we're attempting to address.

"This is a long-term framework for development – the actual timescale will very much depend on funding coming in. It's a 10-20 year framework, we're not going to see a huge development over the next five years – it will all be done in a very controlled fashion."

He said the western end of the site is where the greatest changes will be. "The west is where we have the poorest quality buildings, things like old hen houses that have been converted into buildings and are well past their sell by date so we would be looking to demolish a lot of buildings there."

Most of the new buildings are expected to be around four to six storeys high and each will need individual planning permission. The transformation is already underway, with work on three new buildings scheduled to start within the next year. The Waddington building, currently being built for the biological sciences department, will include up-to-date labs, research space and offices, and is scheduled for completion in 2009.

More biological science facilities will be provided in an extension to the existing Ashworth complex, and a learning and resource centre is currently being designed to sit at the new "green heart" of the campus, also featuring landscaped areas and social facilities. Both should be completed in 2010.

Mr McKim said: "One of the criticisms of people using the campus at the moment is that it doesn't have a centre so we'd like to create a really nice focus, to have much nicer landscaped areas."

The draft masterplan scheme has been approved by the city council's planning committee and is now out for public consultation.

Planning convener, Councillor Jim Lowrie, said: "It's a good development, I think the university's new informatics building in Bristo Square has been very successful and I think they need new buildings to keep up – they're a top university and I think they need new buildings to maintain that."