Edinburgh’s Old Royal Infirmary, a Grade A listed building at the heart of the Quartermile development in the City centre, is to be the setting for a major new facility for Edinburgh University. With the medical facilities now gone, the historic surgical building is to be restored, extended and upgraded to form a wide range of teaching and learning spaces, function areas and workspace for academics, all linked together by broad circulation routes and dynamic spatial volumes. Having remained empty and disused for thirteen years, the revitalised building is expected to transform its local environment, with a major new public space and several points of access from Lauriston Place, Middle Meadow Walk and the Quartermile development. For both the University and the City of Edinburgh it is a project of the greatest significance, with the potential to create a sequence of physical and intellectual links with nearby educational faculties and the City beyond. The completed project will have a stature and scale that identifies it as one of Edinburgh University’s primary institutions within the City centre, alongside the Old College and the McEwan Hall. The many additions and alterations to the building have largely been detrimental to the historic fabric and character. There is also significant decay to the building fabric, due partly to the passage of time but also as a result of water ingress, leading to wet and dry rot outbreaks. The interior finishes are largely modern, with successive layers of interventions, and mostly now in very poor condition. The proposals provide around 21,000 sqm of floor space, of which 5,800 sqm is new construction. The main construction period is currently programmed to start in 2018 and be ready for occupation by the University in the summer of 2020.