Queen Margaret University campus, which was built in Musselburgh in 2007, is undergoing a significant transformation to develop new teaching and learning spaces.

The Future Spaces project involves the revitalisation of some of the university’s most-important learning and teaching spaces to help ensure QMU meets the changing needs of students and staff.

The work also aims to support QMU’s ambitions to refresh, enhance, and modernise the campus so it continues to attract prospective students and supports the growth of the university.

With an investment of £2.1m, students and staff can expect to see a dramatic change to the Learning Resource Centre and some ground-floor classroom areas, which will ultimately expand capacity for self-directed and collaborative student learning and informal teaching activity.

The enhancement and repurposing of spaces will also provide more-flexible use of key areas of the building and a wider choice of more comfortable, vibrant, and sociable study space options.

Some of the changes will also provide increased capacity for larger practical group work, which will provide greater flexibility with timetabling and support the delivery of high demand courses.

“Queen Margaret University already has an attractive, bright, modern campus development, but it’s important that we continue investing in our buildings to ensure they reflect changes in the way students work and developments in the way we teach,” said Bruce Laing, director of campus services.

“Essentially, we want to create welcoming and comfortable study and teaching spaces where students want to be, and which will support and enhance their learning.

“Aside from supporting current students studying at the university, the investment will help us to remain competitive in our ability to attract prospective students.”

A range of stakeholder engagement took place across the university through workshops, surveys and feedback sessions to help shape the plans and deliver attractive, flexible spaces which would inspire, motivate, and support students to fully engage in a diverse range of learning opportunities.

And the renovation work involves the transformation of the Learning Resource Centre to create spaces which support social learning through collaborative and peer-group projects, and flexible spaces which support a diversity of informal teaching and supervision activity.

The work is being carried out by contractor, Morris & Spottiswood.