Campus Guides 

First things first: the two core things a university student (or staff member for that matter!) needs are food and hydration. Our canteens on all campuses are open for Breakfast from 8am to 11am and Lunch from 11.30am to 2.45pm, serving a changing menu every day of the week, from burritos to Bolognese, with a few firm favourites (Baked Potatoes, soup, sandwiches).

In addition, our campus coffee shops (‘Espresso Labs’) are open from Monday to Thursday 8am to 5pm and Friday 8am to 4pm. They serve a range of hot and cold drinks, cookies and crisps. A personal highlight for me has been their iced coffee – perfect for the hot and humid weather we’ve experienced this summer.

 

Campus Guides  Merchiston

 

The Merchiston campus is the oldest dedicated campus in Edinburgh Napier University, home to the arts and humanities collections, as well as the site of Merchiston tower. Like many spaces in Edinburgh, late 20th century architecture mixes with medieval or early Modern structures. Merchiston Tower ties the site to its history as the seat of the Napier family, who give the name to our university – specifically, named after John Napier, the inventor of logarithms. Today, the tower hosts various office spaces, and tours can be arranged of it.

It is the busiest of our campuses, an unsurprising fact given that it’s situated in the middle of the student-heavy Southside of Edinburgh. The campus is a short walk from inner suburbs Bruntsfield, Marchmont, Morningside and Polwarth.

Many key university’s services are headquartered here – e.g sports societies, radio, as well as the JKCC (Jack Kilby Computer Centre). Like the Merchiston library, the JKCC is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week during term time – perfect for working late on an upcoming assignment.

 

Campus Guides  Sighthill

 

Social and life sciences are the major subjects studied here, and the core collection extends over two floors. The roof top conference suited offers amazing panoramic views of the city of Edinburgh. Sighthill is also the location of the main campus gym. The area surrounding the campus was developed mainly as housing estates by Edinburgh City Council in the 1960s and 1970s. While less conventionally attractive compared to the other Napier campuses, the building is modern and energy efficient, and provides an excellent workout should you choose to habitually take the stairs.  Sighthill campus is open from 8am to 9pm on weekdays and 9am to 5pm on weekends.

 

Campus Guides  Craiglockhart

Last but certainly not least. The main building of Craiglockhart campus, built in the late 1800s, originally served as a hydropathic centre where people could go for the ‘water cure’.  It is a bucolic setting, in the shadow of the beautiful Craiglockhart hill. When the sun is out, there is no better place to have your lunch.

A modern extension was made to the building in the early 2000s, exemplified by ‘the Egg’ (the iconic Lindsay Stewart Lecture Theatre). It houses the Business and Law Schools of Edinburgh Napier, as well as the most charming of our libraries (I’m biased of course).

The best-known fact about Craiglockhart is that the building was requisition by the British government during World War 1 to serve as a psychiatric hospital for shell-shocked soldiers. Many officers convalesced here, including the revered anti-war poets Siegfried Sassoon and Wilfred Owen. There is a collection of books, ephemera and documents from this period collected as The War Poets collection, which is housed on the 1st floor. Visitors are free to come and see the collection for themselves, as well as to explore the grounds. The magazine produced by the officers – The Hydra – is memorialised today in the name of our campus’ canteen.

Craiglockhart campus is from open 8am-9pm weekdays and 9am-5pm weekends.

By Kieran Curran

 

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