March 24 2015

The University of Edinburgh is on the look-out for a contractor to deliver a £28m Bennetts Architects designed Data Technology Institute at its Potterrow campus.

A revised planning application for the site outlines a four to six storey build offering around 9,400sq/m of space for academic research with massing to Potterrow amended to create a stepped profile and greater prominence to a colonnaded courtyard entrance and internal atrium - conceived as a steel framed ‘bridge’ housing glazed lifts and a central staircase.

In their design statement Bennetts said: “The proposed massing brings the fourth and fifth floor forward onto the line of the street to create a stepped roofline that rises towards the junction with Marshall Street and gives prominence to the corner and a colonnaded entrance into the courtyard.

“An open corner with double height panels has been used to strengthen its verticality, and a double height picture window has been introduced where the roof line steps using the same architectural vocabulary as the existing elevation to Charles Street.

“The new proposal introduces a prominent two storey colonnade and a two storey opening from Potterrow into the courtyard.”

As the third and final phase of the site masterplan the scheme will adjoin the existing Informatics Forum and Duguld Stewart Building, both of which were completed in 2008, adopting a similar materials palette of sandstone and polished concrete.

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