Edinburgh Futures Institute brings new life to the former Royal Infirmary after years of dereliction. The Category A-listed Victorian hospital was in poor condition when the University bought it in 2015, so the project removes unsympathetic extensions, repairs extensive dry rot, restores the key elements to their former glory and stitches new accommodation alongside the existing hospital wards and corridors.
Phase 1 completed in 2023
With the general accommodation and teaching space dispersed across the 22 ward spaces and new courtyard pavilions, the lofty,150-metre long corridors and their linear extensions provide a setting for social learning, chance encounters, informal meetings and spatial integration that will bring the multi-disciplinary institute a sense of community and cohesion. Strong colours are used for wayfinding and identity.
Visual of the future main events space
The whole complex is connected to the University’s central plant network and is being insulated throughout to reduce operational carbon emissions. Studies of embodied carbon also show that retention of the existing building, together with substantial repairs and new extensions, results in emissions that are well under half of a typical newbuild. One of Edinburgh’s most loved historic buildings has acquired a secure future for the next century and beyond.
The full upfront carbon breakdown can be viewed from this link.
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05.05.2017
Bennetts Associates has submitted the main planning application for the Edinburgh Futures Institute at Quartermile
