University of St Andrews unveils next stage of Eden Campus project at former mill

The University has come back to Fife Council with more plans to redevelop and restore listed buildings. If approved, B-listed Buildings 6-8 will be redeveloped into new Catalysis + Materials science labs. The former stores form a necklace of “distinctive” and “unified” buildings that are part of the Eden Campus site, taken over by the university. It was originally home to a distillery, but in 1872 it was converted into a papermill which ran until 2008.

Since then, the University of St Andrews has acquired the site and invested heavily in its innovation centre “designed to help shape a sustainable future.”

This is not the first time the council has considered an Eden Campus renovation project. Part of the site has already been redeveloped and restored.

The former machine house and mill, known as building one, was completed in 2023 alongside the university’s dry lab building. The Walter Bower House, which contains office spaces, a gym, meeting rooms and breakout spaces was completed in 2020 on a part of the site that previously housed a variety of buildings. Now, the former stores - known as Buildings 6-8, are next in line.

A planning statement from the university claims that the building is currently in a poor state of repair, but emphasised that it will retain as much of the building’s character as possible.

“The features of buildings 6-8 reflect their industrial history,” a planning statement said. “It is important that these are retained wherever possible to ensure the new proposal retains a dialogue with the history of the site.”

This particular renovation will not be one of the university’s flagship sustainability projects, but it will meet minimum building and energy standards.

Fife Council will consider the application in due course.