Construction and infrastructure giant Balfour Beatty has been named as the preferred bidder for a £110m project at the University of Edinburgh.

The planned Holyrood Postgraduate Student Accommodation and Outreach Centre will house 1,160 postgraduate students, as well as the University's community-based teaching activities and continuous professional development course.

Energy for the facilities will be provided by the University’s Combined Heat and Power Energy Centre.

Balfour Beatty currently has a portfolio of student accommodation design and build contracts across the UK amounting to more than £120m. The group has also been named preferred bidder for a US student housing project at the University of Nevada, Reno.

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Chief executive Ian Tyler said: "We have worked with the University of Edinburgh on numerous projects over the past 18 years and look forward to supporting them in realising their long-term aspirations to enhance the postgraduate student experience."

Nigel Paul, the university’s director of corporate services, said: "This is an important project for the university and we are pleased to have reached this key milestone in delivering our plans for the Holyrood campus. Balfour Beatty's involvement can help us create additional opportunities and enhance the experience and engagement of our growing number of postgraduate students by providing a good mix of state-of-the-art accommodation types with excellent support and social spaces."

(NE)