Construction begins on new Edinburgh innovation centre

The Centre is named in honour of Professor Peter Higgs of the University of Edinburgh, who received the Nobel Prize for his prediction of the existence of the Higgs Boson which was discovered at CERN in 2012.

Final designs for the Higgs Centre for Innovation. Picture: jmarchitects

The Higgs Centre for Innovation will support start-up businesses with the aim of creating new market opportunities, especially in big data and space technologies. The Centre is funded through a £10.7 million investment from the UK Government and the Science and Technology Facilities Council will invest £2million over five years to operate the centre.

Gillian Wright, Director of the UK Astronomy Technology Centre, said: “A huge amount of work has been put in by all partners over the past year to develop plans for the Higgs Centre for Innovation and now we begin the exciting phase of seeing it built before our eyes. We look forward to the completion of this important project and the benefits it will bring to both future generations of scientists and industry.”

The stand-alone building at the Capital’s Royal Observatory will be run by the Science and Technology Facilities Council in partnership with the University of Edinburgh. The centre is due to be completed in 2017.

Final design for the Higgs Centre for Innovation. Picture: jmarchitects

Final designs for the building were also unveiled today by jmarchitects, the company with responsibility for the implementation of the building.

Director, Ron McFarlane, said: “We are delighted to have been given the opportunity to be involved with this prestigious project, more so given its historic location and it being built in the name of the eminent Edinburgh scientist Professor Higgs.”

Professor James S. Dunlop, Head of the Institute for Astronomy at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The new centre will cement Edinburgh’s reputation as a world leader in the fields of astrophysics and big data, and provide new opportunities for knowledge exchange between astronomers, particle physicists, engineers and industry.”