The contractor will be responsible for restoring and connecting six wards; 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. 

On completion, the development, part-funded by Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal, will provide multiple teaching and learning facilities, function areas, and work spaces for staff, students and the general public. 

The company will utilise Building Information Modelling (BIM) and augmented and virtual reality technologies to enhance the restoration process of the Bennetts Associates-designed building.

Last year Balfour Beatty won a £67m deal to modernise and extend the University’s School of Biological Sciences at the Kings Building’s campus.

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.”

Works are due to commence in spring 2019 with an overall completion expected ahead of the start of the academic year in 2021. At construction peak, the project will employ workforce of 170 and employ a range of local supply chain partners.