New Darwin

Project Manager: Lizzy Lintern

Estate Development Manager: Jo White

Delivery Agreement Partner and Principal Designer: AtkinsRéalis

Architect: BMJ Architects

Cost Consultant: Thomson Bethune

Civil & Structural Engineer: Goodson Associates

M&E and Sustainability Engineer: RSP Consulting Engineers

Landscape Architect: The Paul Hogarth Company

BIM Coordinator: Digital Guerrilla

Demolition Contractor: Rhodar

Dates: Demolition works are programmed to start in September 2024. Construction of the new building is expected to begin in Autumn 2025, with the building opening its doors in 2028.

The new building will create a next-generation bioscience hub to support the University’s vision for Interdisciplinary Biology. It will aid translation of ground-breaking discovery science into solutions to address global challenges, for example mitigating climate change, food security through sustainable agriculture and healthy ageing.

Central to the Darwin Building is a series of cutting-edge research laboratories, supported by an innovation environment encompassing incubator space, collaboration areas, and public engagement facilities. This will support early-stage and spin-out companies, industrial collaborations, entrepreneurship, and community engagement. The building will provide state-of-the-art postgraduate teaching laboratories and learning spaces, embedding research-led learning amongst world-class bioscience to equip graduates with interdisciplinary knowledge and industry-ready skills.

The proposed replacement of the Darwin Tower with a building of a reduced height and more appropriate scale, and higher quality design, akin to the adjacent buildings and landscape will offer significant visual and environmental improvement to the campus, city, and surrounding areas.

Finally, the new building will support the University’s net zero ambitions, with the delivery of a more energy efficient building that is net-zero-ready.

In addition to University funding the project is supported by external funders including the UKRI Research Partnership Investment Fund (RPIF), The Darwin Trust of Edinburgh and the Garfield Weston Foundation.