Reimagining our Campuses: Pathways to Tomorrow's Campuses

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Reimagining our Campuses: Pathways to Tomorrow's Campuses

Dear colleagues,

We are further progressing with Reimagining our Campuses plans for King’s College, Foresterhill and Hillhead campuses after our governing body University Court approved an Implementation Plan - Pathways to Tomorrow’s Campuses.

As you may recall, the Reimagining our Campuses project board was launched in May 2023 following the pandemic to see how our University estate could more efficiently, effectively and sustainably evolve over the coming years in line with our Aberdeen 2040 strategy.

The University Court received the Reimagining our Campuses report at its June 2024 meeting. Court endorsed the report’s recommendations and requested that a detailed implementation plan be developed aligned with our financial position. This was approved by Court in November.

Thanks to everyone who engaged with Reimagining our Campuses through the consultation sessions, workshops and various feedback mechanisms.

The exercise concluded that the University’s estate is too large for our current and likely future needs and should be rationalised to be more efficient and more effectively aligned to the priorities of Aberdeen 2040. To deliver an efficient, effective, sustainable and digitally enabled estate means:

  • challenging ourselves on current use of all spaces;
  • reconfiguring our patterns of work and use to be less wasteful;
  • divesting of property interests we no longer need to retain;
  • re-shaping our campuses around what is beneficial for our future needs for education, research, innovation, collaboration, administration, social, sports and external engagement uses;
  • and creating places that give students, staff and external communities a compelling reason to come to and spend time on our campuses.

While you can see slides with more detail here, in summary this involves, in relation to specific buildings / facilities:

  • Marischal College East

Ending our already limited operations at Marischal East, part of Marischal College, and identifying opportunities to secure a viable future for the building with other occupiers and stakeholders, while respecting existing occupiers’ rights; you can read more on Marischal here. 

  • Labs for the Future

Creating labs for the future aligned with our research strategy to maximise opportunities for interdisciplinarity and academic commercialisation. This will involve some rationalisation of outdated labs.

  • King’s Innovation Quarter & Hub

Developing a King’s Innovation Quarter and Hub that will act as a beacon for entrepreneurship and innovation, attracting commercial businesses to co-locate onto campus and stimulating collaboration between the University and industry.

  • MacRobert Transformation & Business School

Deliver a single-site home for the Business School within the MacRobert Building and reimagine workspaces to support collaborative and hybrid working.

In addition to these initiatives, there are also a range of prioritised plans across our campuses:

  • Net-Zero Campuses

Progressing our Net Zero ambitions as detailed in the University’s Net Zero Strategy that was also approved by University Court in November. The Strategy identifies 11 distinct Decarbonisation Pathways aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals to guide our ambitions in reducing Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

  • Campus Experience & Rejuvenation

Promoting, repurposing and revitalising properties and spaces, enhancing the vitality or campuses and increasing income generation.

  • Efficient Space Utilisation

Develop plans to outline the contributions of each property enabling informed decisions regarding investment and divestment. Centralise the management of bookable spaces and implement a single system for room bookings and timetabling.

  • Student Accommodation

Appraise the student accommodation portfolio to inform longer-term strategy for provision and investment in student accommodation including the assessment of user demand and condition and style of facilities.

  • Sporting Estate

Review the current sport provision and future needs and develop a more detailed understanding of the Students’ Union sports requirements to ensure estate development aligns with Sports Strategy.

  • Digital & Estates Interface

Streamlining of classroom PC costs and enhanced staff mobility by equipping each user with a single laptop. Our digital infrastructure must support flexible working arrangements allowing staff to work seamlessly on and off campus with a familiar device.

  • Inclusive & Accessible Campuses

Ensure our campuses are fully inclusive and accessible, complying with accessibility standards and with better wayfinding to ease navigation across campuses, and providing dedicated welfare spaces to support student and staff wellbeing.

  • Disposal of Assets

Where we can generate revenue and reduce costs without negatively impacting our estate the disposals of assets will be considered, including the completion of the long-term project to dispose of Rowett land holdings.

This programme of activities – to run alongside business-as-usual projects – will take place over the coming years and we will keep you informed as projects and initiatives progress.

Best wishes

Karl, Pete & Morag

Karl Leydecker

Senior Vice-Principal and Chair of Estates Committee

Pete Edwards

Vice-Principal Regional Engagement and Chair of the Reimagining our Campus Project Board

Morag Beers

Director of Estates and Facilities

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