FACILITIES ACROSS Edinburgh University are facing an overhaul, with tens of millions in university funds being pumped into the redevelopment of King’s Buildings and Easter Bush campuses. FACILITIES ACROSS Edinburgh University are facing an overhaul, with tens of millions in university funds being pumped into the redevelopment of King’s Buildings and Easter Bush campuses.

The council-approved master plan proposes changes such as state-of-the-art laboratories, new offices and research buildings and expanded parking space. There will also be an emphasis on enhancing the existing social facilities and developing more landscaped areas.

Work is already underway with the modernisation of the Waddington Building due for completion in 2009.

However the scheme, which is now open for public consultation, has encountered criticism.

Doubts have been raised as to the usefulness of demolishing existing buildings which still seemingly have years of life in them. There are concerns that this money could be better spent elsewhere or invested in teaching.

In addition, there is constant pressure on the University to increase its ‘green’ credentials by limiting new buildings.

Marcus Wild, environmental campaigner and maths student at KB, insists that ‘the University should be making it harder, not easier for people to travel by car’.

In contrast many students have expressed excitement over the new ideas.

Gavin King, a second-year Geography student, told Student he is pleased about the focus on enhancing the social atmosphere, explaining that currently the campus can have ‘quite austere and isolating feel.’

The new car parks will enable more to travel to lectures in the comfort of their vehicles during the cold winter months. This will simultaneously avoid the growing problem of parking on nearby roads, hopefully improving relations between the University and its neighbouring residents.

Many say that replacing as many as 18 of the buildings, some of which date back to the 1930s and were originally built as hen houses, will prove to be economically and environmentally sound in the long-run.

The current buildings are furnished with single-glazed windows and flat leaky roofs which are a constant drain on the University’s budget. As it is, they require an abundance of fans in the summer and electric heaters over winter. By using modern materials, planners say the site will be more energy efficient.

Planning convener, Councillor Jim Lowrie, commented that Edinburgh is a ‘top university and I think they need new buildings to maintain that’.

Continuing the university’s current trend of redevelopment, the Dick Vet school is also about to be revamped in a £42 million project spanning a two year period. Earlier this week the Princess Royal visited the Easter Bush campus to officially open the construction work.

The new clinical teaching building is to be situated adjacent to the Hospital for Small Animals, and will become a world-renowned learning centre for vetinary students. Professor Elaine Watson, Head of the Vet School says the revamp will ‘strengthen the School’s position as a leading centre for excellence’.