News

Royal Bank of Scotland Plans Premier Scottish Business School

24 June 2008

The Edinburgh Evening News newspaper ran the following story on 23rd June:

THE Royal Bank of Scotland has submitted plans for a business school next to its headquarters at Gogar Park. The bank is expected to invest more than £30 million in the project it is developing with American Ivy League college Harvard on the outskirts of the Capital.

Plans for a two-storey Centre for Executive Development have been submitted to Edinburgh City Council.

It is understood other American and international colleges will join the project, although the main training programmes will be designed by Harvard.

The centre will include more than 60 bedrooms, a 150-seater dining room, an auditorium, seven classrooms, two gyms, a bar, laundry and kitchen facilities. Nearby Gogar Park House will be refurbished to provide offices.

The project is the result of years of pressure by the bank to develop a Scottish business super-school.

Strathclyde and Edinburgh business schools currently lead the market in Scotland, positions likely to be challenged by the new school.

The new centre aims to rival international business schools such as Harvard, Insead in Paris, IMD in Switzerland and leading English schools like the London School of Economics.

A spokesman for the Royal Bank said the centre would provide "world-class facilities for our senior managers".

He added: "We will be working with internationally-recognised institutions such as Harvard Business School to design and provide our development programmes."

David Lampe, marketing and communications director at Harvard in Massachusetts, said: "We value highly the relationship with Royal Bank. We will be working with them on providing content and the design of classrooms."

The Michael Laird practice has been appointed by the Royal Bank as architects to the Gogar Park project. It is thought that MACE, the professional management firm that is construction manager for the world headquarters site, has been appointed to oversee the business school development.

The application is likely to be considered next month.