Balfour Beatty lands £162m contract for Dunard Centre in Edinburgh
Written by admin on October 26, 2025
Balfour Beatty has been appointed by IMPACT Scotland to build the Dunard Centre, a £162m concert hall that will become Edinburgh’s first purpose-built music venue in over a century.
The scheme, located behind St Andrew Square, will feature a 1,000-seat auditorium, a café, bar and flexible spaces for a range of events. A double-level in-situ concrete basement will provide facilities for performers and back-of-house operations.
The main structure will consist of a five-storey steel frame clad in pre-cast concrete panels. Solid oak panelling will be used internally to enhance acoustic performance.
Balfour Beatty was confirmed as main contractor following an 18-month early contractor involvement (ECI) phase, working with IMPACT Scotland and the project team to address buildability and sequencing challenges on the constrained city centre site.
The deal follows an in-principle pledge of an additional £20m in funding by Scotland’s first minister John Swinney, which has been matched pound-for-pound by US philanthropist Dr Carol Colburn Grigor.
Main construction is expected to begin in the coming weeks and complete in 2029. At peak, around 200 operatives will be employed on site.
The project was previously due to be delivered by Sir Robert McAlpine, which had been involved in preconstruction work from as early as 2019. However, that arrangement came to an end in 2022 following a revision to the design and procurement strategy.
Balfour Beatty will create at least five new apprenticeship roles and support ongoing SVQ Modern Apprenticeships.
A local supply chain strategy focused on Scottish SMEs will be supported by 4D digital planning tools to coordinate works and reduce disruption.
Once complete, the Dunard Centre will house the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and serve as a venue for the Edinburgh International Festival, with an estimated 200,000 visitors expected annually.
Nick Rowan, managing director of Balfour Beatty’s regional business in Scotland, said: “We have worked meticulously to plan every stage of this complex build, from construction logistics in a tightly constrained site to the precision needed to achieve world-class acoustic performance.”
