Our Edinburgh Campus
Edinburgh Campus and Sustainability
On the edge of one of world's most beautiful cities, with an exceptional quality of life, our Edinburgh campus is set on 380 acres of park and woodland. Its mix of habitats make it the focus of significant biodiversity preservation efforts and it offers our campus community fantastic opportunities to appreciate the local natural environment. The centre of the campus, the Lawn and Central Woodlands hold the Green Flag Award reflecting achievements across criteria including access, biodiversity. conservation and community involvement. There is also a busy campus allotment, managed by the grounds and estates team, where students and staff can connect over growing their own food.
If you are interested in applying for an allotment on the Edinburgh campus please email Robbie Fraser at r.l.fraser@hw.ac.uk
The campus lies close to active travel corridors (cycling map), and we are working with partners including Sustrans to further improve active and sustainable travel options. A range of facilities to support bike commuting have led to the campus being awarded Cycling Scotland's 'Cycle Friendly Campus' award, with Distinction. We look forward to improving this over the coming months.
Campus Trails
Staff, students and our local community can enjoy a selection of themed campus trails on foot. by bike or with their four-legged friends. Interactive versions of our Discovery Trail and Tree Trail allow you to explore and chart your location in real time via a mobile device.
Biodiversity
Our campus location on an historic country estate with an ornamental loch and extensive mature woodland enables a wide array of flora and fauna to thrive. Our Landscape Team work hard to support and enhance biodiversity on our beautiful campus - please consult our Biodiversity Action Plan for further information.
Look out for our wildflower meadows across campus, which are replacing areas that used to be kept as manicured lawns. They are planted with bee-friendly plant species with different blooms appearing throughout the year.
Building in Sustainability
Our Edinburgh campus building stock has grown in recent years, and with it our ability to feature modern, energy efficient design and renewable energy generation. Our award-winning Global Research Innovation and Discovery (GRID) building was designed with a passive approach to sustainability and energy efficiency, achieving a BREEAM Excellent status and commendation at the Scottish Design Awards. You can take a tour of the GRID building.
The National Robotarium building's innovative design maintains a focus on sustainability and energy efficiency. In winter the recycling of warm air will be maximised to limit heating demands, while an ecological zone will integrate sustainable urban drainage systems with surrounding natural water features. A substantial 100kW rooftop solar PV array helps with meeting the building's energy requirements, with any remaining electricity supplied by the National Grid purchased via a renewable energy tariff. This is the case for the whole campus. Read more about the National Robotarium's building construction.
Campus Services
Our Campus Services are responsible for the development and implementation of our environmental, energy and sustainability policies.
We have various initiatives in place to reduce our energy consumption and to promote recycling, and each year we submit a climate change report to the Sustainable Scotland Network (SSN).
Our Climate Action Framework, outlines potential projects and process changes that we can consider in order to reduce our carbon footprint to net zero. Our Edinburgh campus is the primary focus of much our Net Zero Plan simply due it being where the bulk of our built environment is located.
We hope that while you are studying with us, you can play your part in helping us to minimise waste, reduce our energy use and recycle as much as possible. Please also try to remember to bring your keep cup to our hot drinks outlets as there is a 25p surcharge on all disposable coffee cups. Keep cups are available for purchase from all hot drinks outlets on campus.
Recycling
Find out how to recycle on campus.
- Hospitality Services' catering outlets at our Edinburgh Campus have obtained the Green Kitchen Standard in recognition of their best-practice in waste management and energy use reduction.
- Our Hospitality Services and the Global Environmental Sustainability Team are working with Klimato to help reduce the carbon impact of the food we serve at our Edinburgh Campus.