King's Buildings

View of King's Buildings from the Braid Hills

The King's Buildings is a campus of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, and contains most of the schools within the College of Science and Engineering, excepting only part of the School of Informatics and the School of Geosciences, which are located at the central George Square campus. The campus lies between West Mains Road and Mayfield Road, about 2 miles south of George Square.[1]

Maps and streets

The OpenStreetMap project has mapped the area here

In 2014 the University of Edinburgh renamed a number of the streets on Kings Buildings campus to honour the scientists who worked there including Sir James Dewar, Thomas Bayes, David Brewster, James Hutton, genetics pioneer Charlotte Auerbach and X-ray visionary Marion Ross.

A report from the City of Edinburgh Development Management Sub-Committee on 30 July 2014 records the discussion regarding the names chosen.

"During discussions of the 13 suggested names, it was pointed out to the University that some of the names were overly long and cumbersome, and that any signs would be large and possibly difficult to site. The University maintained that these issues would not be a problem and that they wanted all of the names to be considered. Two of the proposed names were rejected as unsuitable as they did not meet the Council’s criteria for new street names: Christina Miller was deemed to be too similar sounding to Christie Miller, who already appears in three street names; and Robert Edwards, does not meet the Council’s current 10 year requirement for deceased people. On 29 May a revised list of proposed names was submitted by the University, substituting Marion Ross Road for Christina Miller Road and James Dewar Road for Robert Edwards Road. The University was particularly keen to maintain as many women’s names as possible on the list, stating that this was felt to be important as they were under represented."[2]

The final agreed street system is:

Buildings at KB

James Clerk Maxwell Building
Joseph Black Building and KB Centre
Scottish Microelectronics Centre

Building names at KB are of greater long-standing than the road system but also reflect the spectrum of British science:

The Scotland's Rural College (SRUC), the British Geological Survey (moved elsewhere in February 2016) and Biomathematics and Statistics Scotland (BioSS) also have facilities there. On August 5th, 2014, FloWave TT, was inaugurated by Amber Rudd, the UK Minister for Energy and Climate Change. The FloWave Ocean Energy Research Facility is a world-unique, 25m diameter wave and current tank primarily focused on testing marine energy technologies and projects.

Other Facilities

Kings Buildings 5 Mile Road Race

The 'KB' 5 Road Race is organised every year by the Edinburgh University Hare and Hounds Running Club. It is usually held in late February or early March. The race starts and finishes inside the Kings Buildings campus. The course consists of a 5 mile road loop around the leafy streets of south Edinburgh, with quite a few hills, though none of them steep. The race is popular amongst students and local club runners and usually attracts around 250 participants.

References

  1. ↑ "The King's Buildings". University of Edinburgh College of Science and Engineering. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  2. ↑ "Proposed street naming at the King’s Buildings Campus". City of Edinburgh Council. Development Management Sub Committee. 30 July 2014. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  3. ↑ "King's Buildings Bars and Cafes". Edinburgh University Students' Association. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  4. ↑ "Our Shops". Edinburgh University Students' Association. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  5. ↑ "The King's Buildings". University of Edinburgh. Retrieved 12 May 2014.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to King's Buildings.

Coordinates: 55°55′22″N 3°10′30″W / 55.92278°N 3.17500°W / 55.92278; -3.17500

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.