Heriot-Watt defends crumbling campus

Bosses at Heriot-Watt have defended the university after a survey which highlighted the poor quality of the learning facilities was made public last week.

Information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the Guardian revealed 42 percent of the university's lecture theatres, libraries and other non-residential buildings were "inoperable" and "posing a serious risk of major failure and breakdown".

A spokeswoman for Heriot-Watt said: "In the four years since the survey the university has undertaken estates projects, both completed and ongoing, totalling £52.9 million. We are also in the design and planning stage of a £25 million programme to rebuild residences at both the Galashiels and Edinburgh campuses, part of a longer-term £60 million residences renewal project.

"Heriot-Watt has an ongoing commitment to spending over £2 million a year over the next five years as part of a rolling programme of upgrades to University buildings and infrastructure.”

Last week, the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE), was forced to reveal the details after an information tribunal ruled that it was in the public's interest for the data to be published.

Andrew Smith, Head of Estates and Sustainable Development at the HEFCE, explained the reason behind the survey and why the agency had fought to keep the information secret.

Speaking exclusively to The Journal, he said: “The figures in the Guardian article are two years old. Substantial investment has continued since these figures were collected and we expect new data to show further improvement in the quality of buildings The next report will be published by the end of February.”

"The object of the exercise was to enable universities to make better management decisions and to benchmark the quality of their estate against the information supplied confidentially by the higher education sector.

"The Information Tribunal agreed that the information met the tests of confidentially but concluded that HEFCE would have a public interest defence to any breach of confidentiality brought and therefore the FOI exemption was not engaged. In the light of this decision we will publish the data from now on.”

Senior staff at Heriot-Watt claim that in the four years since the survey was undertaken the university has built a new £6.5 million Postgraduate Centre at the Edinburgh Campus and has developed a £31.4 million co-located campus in Galashiels.

They also claim to have invested £1.5 million in student-facing services, including building alterations and improvements and the development of a one-stop-shop for student services and completed a £3.5 million programme to upgrade all lecture theatres.

In addition, they are in the process of a rolling £10 million programme of upgrading all teaching facilities.

Simon Eltringham, president of Heriot-Watt Students' Association told The Journal: “We were disappointed to find that the university ranked so low in the survey. Over the last few years there has been targeted investment in several student areas and there is a commitment for extensive renovations in core areas over the summer.

"There are still several areas of the university that are in need of major refurbishment and I am confident that this is something the university are actively working on in consultation with our students.”