Construction work has begun on the £25m innovation centre and campus hub being built at the University of Edinburgh’s Easter Bush site, a development which will include an “International Centre for Livestock Improvement” and specialist livestock-based research facilities.
Due for completion in March 2017, the development is part of a 2025 “master plan” which is designed to enable the Easter Bush campus to “deliver solutions to global challenges within the veterinary and livestock industries”.
“Livestock farming remains a major industry in the UK, crucial to the life and sustainability of rural communities,” states the development brochure. “Sustainable increases in the productivity of the agriculture sector are required to address the future food security of UK and the world.”
The Easter Bush campus already claims to contain “the largest concentration of animal science related expertise anywhere in Europe” and is aiming to become “internationally recognised in animal science by 2025, leading efforts to address livestock improvement, food security and alleviation of poverty in developing countries”.
The headline image is an artist’s impression of how the centre will look in 2017. The picture below is how the site looks today.
