The Princess Royal inaugurates new science and engineering building at University Of Edinburgh

The Princess Royal – University of Edinburgh Chancellor – toured the new building and met with students and staff, before unveiling a plaque to commemorate the opening.

The Nucleus building provides bespoke learning and teaching facilities and social spaces for the University’s College of Science and Engineering.

Learning and teaching hub
The new building houses five lecture theatres, two large teaching spaces, a 100-person specialist teaching laboratory and a new home for the Kings Buildings campus Careers Service.

Students can also take advantage of more than 400 student study spaces over four floors.

I am delighted to be able to welcome the Chancellor to officially open the Nucleus. The building is now a focal point at the heart of King’s Buildings campus, bringing together spaces for teaching, studying, socialising and services. I’m excited by the new possibilities it gives us all to meet and interact together, no matter which part of the University we are in.

The Princess Royal – University of Edinburgh Chancellor – meeting students at the opening of the Nucleus building
The Chancellor meets with students during the opening of the Nucleus building
University Chancellor
The Princess Royal is the institution’s eighth Chancellor in the 150-year history of the position, succeeding her father The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as Chancellor in 2011.

She has visited the University on numerous occasions, meeting with many of our students and staff over the years.

In January 2023, she toured the College of Science and Engineering’s FastBlade facility – the world’s first rapid testing facility for tidal turbine blades – to meet colleagues and partners of the facility’s new MAXBlade project.