Buildings and laboratories
The School of Informatics is located within the central campus, near George Square. If you are enrolled in one of our joint degrees, some of your classes might take place in Kings Buildings, a 25-minute walk from George Square.
You can visit Informatics buildings virtually
The Informatics Forum
Our research building: it houses, academic, research staff and students, and some of our professional services staff.
10 Crichton Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9AB
Appleton Tower
Our teaching building. it houses our taught students, as well as the Informatics Teaching Organisation
11 Crichton Street
Edinburgh
EH8 9AB
Appleton Tower labs and other space
Levels 3 to 9 of Appleton Tower have computer labs containing DICE desktop machines and network ports for Informatics students, tutorial rooms, and smaller study spaces.
The Informatics lab space is available to all Informatics students from 08:00 - 20:00, 7 days a week, with swipe card access required to Appleton Tower and each of the levels within the building:
| Level 3 swipe access: 8am - 8pm Monday - Sunday |
| Level 4 swipe access: 8am - 8pm Monday - Sunday |
| Level 5 swipe access: 8am - 8pm Monday - Sunday |
| Level 6 swipe access: 8am - 8pm Monday - Sunday |
| Level 7 swipe access: 8am - 8pm Monday - Sunday |
Some of these rooms are regularly used for teaching classes; search in the "Locations" section of the University's 'Web timetables' system to find out which rooms are available when.
Web timetables academic year 23-24
The Desktop and Friend Finder app helps you find a lab with free desktops. If you want to, you can share your location in the labs with friends, so you can find each other.
| Location | Spaces | Machines | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|
| Level 3 | |||
| 3.01 | 46 | 24 | Robotics Lab |
| 3.09 | 36 | 36 | Computer/Practical Lab |
| 3.11 | 4 | Open to students on robotics courses only, except during scheduled class bookings. | |
| Level 4 | |||
| 4.05 | 8 | Study space | |
| 4.07 | 8 | Study space | |
| 4.09 | 8 | Study space | |
| 4.12 | 36 | 18 | Computer Lab |
| 4.14A | 13 | 4 | Tutorial Room |
| 4.14 | 11 | 4 | Tutorial Room |
| Level 5 | |||
| 5.01 | 20 | Tutorial Room | |
| 5.01a | 1 | Meeting Booth | |
| 5.02 | 8 | Individual Quiet Study Space | |
| 5.03 | 8 | Group Study Space | |
| 5.04 | 42 | Teaching Studio | |
| 5.05 | 52 | 52 | Computer Lab |
| 5.07 | 15 | Teaching Suite | |
| 5.08 | 12 | 12 | South Computer Lab (restricted access) |
| Level 6 | |||
| 6.06 | 102 | 102 | Computer Lab |
| Level 7 | |||
| 7.01 | 20 | Tutorial room | |
| 7.02 | 14 | 14 | Computer Lab |
| 7.03 | 16 | 8 | InfBASE |
| 7.14 | 18 | Meeting/Tutorial Room | |
Please refer to the page on technical and computing support for how to report computing and networking issues.
Technical and Computing Support
If you find any non-urgent problems with the building and you are logged into a DICE machine, please use the ITO internal support form and select "AT Building Maintenance" in the Enquiry/ITO section of the form.
If you find any non-urgent problems with the building and you are not logged into a DICE machine, please use the ITO external support form and select "ITO General Enquiry" in the Enquiry/ITO section of the form.
If you are in a critical emergency, you should call 999 in the first instance for Police, Ambulance, or Fire services.
The University has Security that is available 24/7 on the number: 0131 650 2257
For non-emergency police service, call Police Scotland on: 101
For non-emergency medical service, call NHS 24 on: 111
The fire alarm is tested every Wednesday at 11am. No one is required to evacuate a building during a fire alarm test unless the sounders sound for more than 30 seconds. If the fire alarm goes off at any other time you must leave the building.
Appleton Tower has two main stairs located in the east and west ends of the building, either of which can be used in the event of an emergency evacuation. The building has two emergency evacuation lifts, which can only be operated by trained personnel. After you leave the building, please gather in the assembly point, which is the car park towards Windmill Lane/40 George Square Tower
Information on fire safety in Informatics buildings
Level 9 of the Appleton Tower is for UG4/5 students from September to May and for MSc students from May to August. To gain access to Level 9, you will need to apply. Applications are open for UG4/5 around September and for MSc students around May. We inform UG4/5 and MSc students that applications are open by email.