Eden Campus

The Eden Campus site was first occupied in 1855. Originally a distillery, the building operated as a paper mill between 1894 and 2008. In 2010 the University of St Andrews repurposed the site with the aim of transforming it into a centre of excellence for renewable technologies and innovation.

Eden Campus brings those involved in world-leading research and development in the Higher Education sector together with local businesses and start-ups operating within the green supply chain, to deliver innovative smart energy solutions of the future.

Eden Campus is a low carbon exemplar and is central to the University’s strategic drive to become a carbon neutral university by 2035.

Walter Bower House

Walter Bower House, named after Scottish medieval historian Walter Bower, who trained at the University in the 15th century, is the home of 400 professional services staff and the hub of the Eden Campus site. It was created from former paper mill buildings which were part of the old Curtis Fine Papers factory. Unoccupied for a decade, many of the former mill buildings have undergone extensive renovation by the University.

Colin Vincent Centre for Battery Technology

This facility for the production of commercial-scale batteries showcases the University’s world-leading battery research programmes. Our expertise in materials chemistry has put us at the forefront of research into new battery chemistries, and this new facility enables the scaling up of this research into production-scale pouch cells. Central to the facility is an eight by 14 metre dry lab: a sealed laboratory with ultra-low moisture conditions essential to handling these sensitive chemistries.

Rapid Prototyping Centre

The Rapid Prototyping Centre (RPC) provides a resource to both local startups and the campus community. With the latest 3D modelling and computer aided design (CAD) software, electromechanical engineering tools, additive printing technology, laser cutting facilities, and large- scale computer numerical control (CNC) machines, the space enables innovators to design, build and test prototypes of their inventions.

Electronics workshop

Equipped with printed circuit boards (PCBs), a CNC mill, soldering and de-soldering equipment, a reflow oven, test equipment, oscilloscopes, a printed circuit assembly board (PCBA), and in-circuit testing, the electronics workshop offers a combination of hardware and software design solutions with custom printed PCBs assembled into fully functional prototypes.

Entrepreneurship Centre

The Entrepreneurship Centre is an innovative space that uncovers and nurtures the entrepreneurial spirit in students, staff and non-University members. Through training programmes, one-to-one support and inspiring events the Centre team provides tools, contacts and confidence to facilitate the entrepreneurial journey and realise commercial potential.

The team supports budding entrepreneurs to develop successful, scalable and sustainable business start-ups and spin outs for real-world societal and environmental benefit.

Solar farm

The one-megawatt ground solar photovoltaic (PV) system (pictured below) provides Eden Campus with its electricity needs and reduces the University’s overall carbon footprint by approximately 5%. In addition to providing power to Walter Bower House and other buildings on the campus, the electrical supply will be used within Eden Campus by the University and our tenants and by the multiple electric vehicle charging points.

To provide a buffer for our electrical demand we have installed battery storage, which will be further developed in 2024 along with more solar projects. These projects support the Distribution Network Operator (DNO) energy flexibility and demand response trading schemes, provide local benefits by reducing peak loads on the grid infrastructure, and contribute to wider grid decarbonisation, which will enable the DNO to release electrical capacity for others in support of their decarbonisation plans and shift away from fossil fuels.

Energy Centre

The £25 million plant on the east side of the former paper mill site houses a biomass boiler which uses clean, sustainable fuel from sources across Scotland to produce hot water. This water is pumped four miles underground to St Andrews where it heats 48 University buildings and 3000 student rooms.

The centre delivers 6000 tonnes of carbon reductions each year, a major contribution to the University’s ambition of carbon neutrality.

In 2016, the Eden Campus Energy Centre won the prestigious Sustainable Development Award at the Scottish Green Energy Awards.