THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH Quality Infrastructure: Estate Strategy 2010-2020 2 1 Contents 3 Principal’s introduction 5 Chapter 1 Vision, objectives and context 15Aim Chapter 2 Our Estate and IT infrastructure To provide our students with a distinctive, 23high-quality Chapter University 3 of Performance Edinburgh experience assessment which exceeds their expectations. 29 Chapter 4 Challenges and opportunities 39 Chapter 5 College and Support Group proposals 59 Chapter 6 Finance Appendices 64 Appendix 1 Campus maps 70 Appendix 2 Mapping of business activity to zonal structure 71 Appendix 3 Land and property assets for potential rationalisation 72 Appendix 4 Building performance assessment: zonal analysis 73 Appendix 5 Estate management statistics: key performance indicators 75 Appendix 6 Sustainability: key performance measures 77 Appendix 7 Indicative maintenance imperatives 79 Appendix 8a Funding scenarios in the context of the approvedThe recent programme formation and significant College/Support Group prioritiesof a number of 80 Appendix 8b Capital projections plan collaborative centres demonstrates our 83 Appendix 8c Speculative priority programme 2010-2015capacity (five-year for programme) leadership at the forefront of new and emerging areas. 3 Principal’s introduction This Quality Infrastructure: Estate Strategy 2010-2020 Delivering this strategy will therefore require us to be sets out our vision for our estate. It builds on the ever more responsive to changes in our operating University’s Strategic Plan 2008-2012, while providing environment and increasingly flexible in our approach greater detail and a longer-term view. Its delivery will be to planning and delivery of estates projects. Our central in supporting our strategic goals of excellence priorities for delivery over the next 10 years are set out in learning and teaching, research, and against this background and are influenced by our commercialisation and knowledge exchange. commitment to protect our important assets and take seriously our social and environmental responsibilities. Over the last five years we have made significant Making strides to further improve our use of space and investments in our infrastructure, resulting in deliver increased value for money are vital if we are to considerable improvements in the overall performance continue to make progress in the current economic of our estate. We are proud of our achievements, climate. Infrastructure maintenance, sustainability which are illustrated by a number of high-profile issues and consolidation opportunities will remain strategic developments including: important throughout the period of this plan. • merging with the Roslin Institute; An overarching theme for this strategy is partnership • securing land at Little France and participating in working. We are increasingly seeking closer alignment The Edinburgh BioQuarter Partnership with Scottish with other institutions and organisations and continue Enterprise, NHS Lothian and Alexandria Real to look for opportunities to share activities across Estate; institutional boundaries – as well as internally – where • preparing the Easter Bush campus Development mutual benefits can be realised. In addition, we will Framework; achieve greater integration of IT requirements within • achieving closer alignment with Edinburgh the overall estate planning process. Identifying future College of Art; technological developments and positioning ourselves • co-locating Schools and business areas, for to rapidly respond to these will be critical to meeting example, delivering the Potterrow development the needs of our increasingly diverse population of which brought together the previously dispersed staff and students. School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, with the School of Informatics. We take confidence from, and aim to build on, these considerable achievements. While we anticipate continued growth in our activities over the period covered by this strategy and accompanying ongoing investment An overarching in our estate, this will be in the context of significant theme for this uncertainty around future levels of income from all major sources following the global economic crisis. strategy is partnership working. 5 Chapter 1: Vision, objectives and context Our strategic goals are excellence in learning and teaching, excellence in research, and excellence in commercialisation and knowledge exchange. 6 1.1 Introduction and overview • produce graduates fully equipped to achieve the highest personal and professional standards; The University of Edinburgh, as one of the largest • make a significant, sustainable and socially higher education institutions in the UK, is a leading responsible contribution to the UK and the rest of provider of undergraduate and postgraduate the world, promoting health and economic and education and is at the forefront of research, cultural wellbeing. commercialisation and knowledge exchange, both within the UK and internationally. 1.3 Our vision for our estate Our estate has evolved gradually over the past 200 Our aim is to provide the quality physical and IT-related years and includes many old, converted and listed infrastructure appropriate to the needs of a leading buildings. These play an important part in defining the international centre of academic excellence, which will: character of the University and are key elements in our heritage, but also present us with significant • support world-class academic activity; challenges. • provide a stimulating working, learning and living environment; 1.2 Our vision and mission • be developed and operated to meet national and international environmental sustainability and social Our vision is to shape the future by attracting and responsibility objectives; developing the world’s most promising students and • continue to move towards the optimal use of space. outstanding staff. 1.4 Context The mission of our University is the creation, dissemination and curation of knowledge. As a world- Our estate is large, encompassing more than 200 leading centre of academic excellence we aim to: buildings (excluding residential accommodation), with a gross academic area of approximately 588,900 m2. Our • enhance our position as one of the world’s leading residential estate has a total area of approximately research and teaching universities and to measure 150,000 m2. With more than 8,800 staff, more than 27,000 our performance against the highest international students, a total turnover in 2008/09 of more than £590 standards; million, and a strong international profile, our contribution • provide the highest quality learning and teaching to Scotland and its prosperity is considerable. An environment for the greater wellbeing of our independent study conducted in 2008 indicated that the students and deliver an outstanding educational University of Edinburgh’s total quantifiable economic portfolio; impact on Scotland (Gross Value Added) was more than £800 million, with almost 20,000 FTE jobs supported. In terms of student numbers and range of teaching provision, our closest peer institution in Scotland is the University of Glasgow. In formulating strategy, we also benchmark ourselves against a number of other institutions selected from the Russell Group as well as international institutions, principally from the Universitas 21 international network of leading research-intensive universities. Since 2005, our expenditure on capital projects has amounted to approximately £332 million An architect’s image showing the future development through a combination of central University funds of The BioQuarter and Little France and external sources. 7 Our estate is large and scattered reflecting This Quality Infrastructure: Estate Strategy 2010-2020 is concentrations of activity and the breadth of our prepared in the aftermath of the global financial crisis academic business. Appendix 1 provides details of our and the increasing UK public finance deficit. Though main locations in the city and Appendix 2 maps our the University should continue to grow, it may not be on Colleges, Schools and Support Groups to zones. We the basis of real increases in public funding until late in continue to take a pragmatic approach to analysing the life of this strategy. This will exert great strain on our estate requirements adopting a zonal approach on maintaining the estate to meet the needs of students, the basis of location and business-led zones, which research and support staff and to enhance available closely align with our collegiate structure below: facilities through the capital building programme. This is the financial challenge that underlies this new strategy. • Central Area (incorporating College of Humanities and Social Science and central administration); 1.5 Strategic objectives • College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine; • College of Science and Engineering; Our Estate Strategy document builds on the • residential and related accommodation. University’s Strategic Plan 2008-2012, which provides greater detail and a longer-term view. In the plan we set While we fully accept that we will continue to have a out our three strategic goals: Excellence in Learning scattered estate going forward, we will continue to and Teaching; Excellence in Research; and Excellence challenge the sustainability and scale of our estate in in Commercialisation and Knowledge Exchange. These developing our masteplans/development frameworks strategic goals reflect our key business areas and are and projects within them,