UK construction giant Balfour Beatty has landed a contract to restore the former Royal Infirmary hospital in Edinburgh.

The £70 million works will be completed to deliver a new major education hub for the University of Edinburgh.

The Edinburgh Futures Institute development will include multiple teaching and learning facilities, function areas, and work spaces for staff, students and the general public. 

Balfour Beatty will restore and connect six wards for the development, unlocking the building's wide corridors to create free-flowing areas in the University's Grade- A listed Old Royal Infirmary hospital building, spanning over 21,000 square meters. They will employ 170 people at construction peak.


Building Information Modelling (BIM) and augmented and virtual reality technologies will also be utilised to enhance the restoration process.

Hector Macaulay, Balfour Beatty's Managing Director of Scotland and Ireland, said: "We have a long history of restoring listed buildings, including the National Museum of Scotland and the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh.

"Combining the latest construction techniques and technologies, we look forward to sympathetically restoring Edinburgh's Old Royal Infirmary hospital for the wider benefit of the community."

Work will commence on the project in spring 2019, and is expected to be completed ahead of the start of the academic year in 2021.

(CM)