Major new building approved for King's Buildings

On 29 April, the University of Edinburgh Court gave the approval for a major new £48m development at the heart of the King’s Buildings Campus.

Phase 1 of the KB Nucleus project will see the creation of a modern, multi-purpose learning, teaching and social hub on the site currently occupied by the KB Centre. Construction will begin early next year towards a completion date of August 2022. The KB Nucleus will contain:

• Three large (300+) seat lecture theatres
• Innovative teaching and learning seminar rooms
• New study spaces
• Catering, leisure and social spaces
• A highly serviced chemistry teaching lab

The development will also bring a number of benefits. It will mean that:

• All first year teaching can be carried out at King's Buildings
• There will be a reduced need for inter campus travel for staff and students
• There will be an opportunity to use new pedagogies in modern teaching spaces
• The capacity of the campus will be able to grow
• There will be improved on-campus catering provisions
• There will be access to new spaces that will be available for a range of activities such as exams, student societies, open days and events.

The Nucleus phase 1 will become a focal point of the campus and with further stages of development planned beyond phase 1 it will play an increasingly important part of everyday life for many King's Buildings staff and students.

On completion, the KB Nucleus will be a major step forward in the long-term vision for the redevelopment of the campus known as the Kings Buildings Masterplan, an improvement plan that encompasses several improvement projects being completed over a twenty-year period.

Our ambitions in education have grown, and we have the opportunity now to create a new iconic heart to King’s Buildings that keeps our students close and encourages interaction between students and staff.  It will provide social space where people can eat, relax and study, and this will encourage us to experiment with new forms of education and interdisciplinarity. I look forward with great anticipation to its opening and the expansion of science and engineering that it will promote.