Advanced Computing Facility
The Edinburgh International Data Facility building, part of the Advanced Computing Facility at Easter Bush.
The ESES City Region Deal provided funding of £20m towards Phase 1 of Edinburgh International Data Facility (EIDF) developments at the University of Edinburgh’s Advanced Computing Facility on it's Easter Bush Campus in Midlothian. This included the building of a new high resilienc computer room, which was completed in late 2020 by Robertson Construction.
The project is was managed by the Edinburgh Parallell Computing Centre (EPPC) at Easter Bush, which hosts and manages many of the UK’s national supercomputing and research data services.
The development falls under the Data-Driven Innovation (DDI) strand of the City Region Deal –aiming to establish Edinburgh and South East Scotland as the data capital of Europe.
For more information about the wider EIDF programme and the Innovation strand of the ESES CRD please visit https://esescityregiondeal.org.uk/innovation
Community Benefits
During construction of the ACF project, Robertsons helped Newbattle Highschool students build a "Hagrid Hut" to be donated to a local nursery.
Robertsons and the University of Edinburgh agreed a broad range of commitments to ensure that local places and people were engaged and gained positive impact.
Covid-19 has had a significant impact upon the construction industry cannot be understated. The most stringent of restrictions and closure of building sites presenting complex barriers to traditional delivery of community benefits such as school engagement and apprenticeships.
However, prior to the temporary shutdown of construction projects, Robertsons were able to deliver a range of engagements with local education settings – including 4 work experience placements and supporting the completion of NVQ, HNC and Degree-level qualifications.
Robertsons also worked closely with the nearby Newbattle High School and Developing the Young Workforce – beginning with a Construction and Engineering Event with an audience of 150 young people, parents/carers, and educators from across Midlothian.
A large amount of materials from the site was provided to the school to assist them with building their ‘Hagrid Hut’ which was later donated to the local nursery.
A programme of engagement was also delivered in partnership with the Princes Trust. The Princes Trust work with 18 to 30-year-olds to turn big ideas into a business reality through their Enterprise programme. As a result of the ACF project, young people across Edinburgh, Fife and the Scottish Borders were empowered to develop innovative enterprise ideas. This included the creation and sale of a range of crafts products and gift boxes, a mobile arts centre for rural communities and a mobile car valet. An innovative app to assist disabled children to communicate – involving lights, music and interactive elements – was also developed.
It has enabled us to keep lots of pupils busy in the workshop here at Newbattle including the construction skills group
Robertsons were also able to keep 80% of spending for the project within a 10 mile radius of the build, boosting local supply chains to support employment and economic development.
Data Driven Innovation
The Edinburgh Futures Institute is part of the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) strand of the Edinburgh & South East Scotland City Region Deal.
From food production and climate change, to exploring Space and genetically-tailored healthcare, the DDI initiative is a cluster of innovation hubs that bring academic disciplines together to delve into some of the world’s most pressing challenges – using data to innovate. To find out more, visit the DDI website (https://ddi.ac.uk/), or click the entries below to view further information about each of the hubs: