City of Edinburgh Council has unanimously backed a major project to transform the BioQuarter into a vibrant new neighbourhood in the south east of of the city, creating 9,000 jobs.
Billed as Edinburgh’s Health Innovation District, the planned expansion would see more space for research and healthcare innovation, commercial use, hotel, gym, retail and leisure.
The Council is working in partnership with the University of Edinburgh, Scottish Enterprise and NHS Lothian to deliver the project.
Councillors also agreed to contribute up to £500k towards taking the project to the next stage.
Council leader Adam McVey said, “We’re delighted to be part of the BioQuarter project, a hugely exciting and cutting-edge development that will make a massive contribution to the ongoing regeneration of the south east of the city – creating a whole new community of 20,000 people, with access to a vibrant new public square to meet in and use for a whole range of services and events.
“Following on from our announcement of £1.3bn plans for Granton Waterfront last week, this is another opportunity for us to build a sustainable new district to help us become a carbon neutral city by 2030. It will deliver thousands of new energy efficient high quality homes, many of them affordable, improved and new transport links and new walking and cycle paths.”
