The University of Edinburgh is open to speaking with fresh suppliers, according to its Director of Estates Gary Jebb, as they continue to transform their property and estates portfolio.

Gary Jebb told the Scottish Universities Development Plans Conference that since he had joined the university nearly five years ago its annual construction expenditure had increased by 250% from £68m to £175m in the last financial year. That figure is expected to rise to £200m by 2021/22, with £150m of projects already approved and a further £130m waiting for the green light.

The University are ‘on the cusp of a very large investment’ and therefore they’re keen not to limit its current roster of suppliers. The University typically has 12 to 16 tier one contractors on its books at any point but Jebb added: ‘’In the short-term design teams are appointed: some opportunities will come along. No-one is going to get all the cake.’’

A design team has already been appointed for the Edinburgh College of Art and the Edinburgh Futures Institute, with the latter set to be on site by the end of 2018.

One of the requirements highlighted by Jebb was the need for up to 2,500 more beds of student accommodation, some of which it intended to build itself. He said the University were keen for housing to be along arterial routes accessible to the city centre whilst adding: ‘’There’s hardly a day when a developer doesn’t walk in declaring they have an opportunity for us. Supply is finite, we are offered a lot of choice and we will be very selective.’’

Other key schemes in the University’s estates pipeline included the Edinburgh BioQuarter, which all its existing medical education facilities will be relocated to, and the refurbishment and rebuilding of the student union facilities at 1 George Square.

During the Q&A sessions at the conference Jebb said that he hadn’t been surprised by the collapse of construction giant Carillion in January stating that clients had to make sure that the supply chain was making enough money from projects. He said: ‘’You need to have some of the cake. We simply want facilities that let the University deliver its core purpose, open on time and for a reasonable amount of money.’’

Ann Allen, Director of Estates and Buildings at the University of Glasgow, said in her presentation that the University’s court has agreed £1bn worth of spending over the next eight years.

More than half of that investment (£560m) will be used to build a new campus on a 14-acre site, acquired by the University immediately adjacent to its existing site in central Glasgow.

The University’s authorities have agreed a big chunk of its planned estates investment to revamp the existing campus with Allen saying: ‘’We have a historic campus and we have to invest in that as well as new buildings, otherwise we will end up with a two tier system which is what we don’t want for our researchers and students.’’

The first project on the new campus will be the learning and teaching hub which went on site in October last year. The second building is the new inter-disciplinary research hub, which was approved by the court in October last year. The building, which is being designed by architecture HOK, will overlook a new civic square in the new campus.

Allen listed a series of buildings that are due to be approved over the next 12 months. These include the new Institute of Health and Wellbeing which is being designed by Atkins, which is set to open in 2021 subject to the approval of the building’s full business case later this year.

The University are also looking to enter into a memorandum of understand with Scottish Enterprise about what is likely to be known as the West End Waterfront Innovation District.

Ann Allen also highlighted the boost the University’s development could add to the wider region adding: ‘’I believe that the campus development can spawn significantly wider development opportunities in Glasgow.’’

Roddy MacDonald, Head of Higher Education and Science Division at the Scottish Government, said that Holyrood would be making available £40m of Treasury loans to Universities for estates and business development projects. He gave an overview of how the Government were supporting skills development in the country to boost economic growth in the country.

We’ll be back in Scotland for the Edinburgh Development Plans Conference where we’ll be hearing from Edinburgh City Council, Artisan Real Estate, Sanctuary Group, Springfield Properties and Murray Estates.