Several of the 50 buildings on the university's College of Science and Engineering site will be demolished and replaced with 18 state-of-the-art research and teaching sites.
The 49-acre campus on the corner of Mayfield Road and West Mains Road will have a 'green heart' area as a social focus for students and staff with landscaping, a library and study facilities.
There will be improved parking facilities to encourage staff and students to park on site.
The university's senior estates development manager Alasdair McKim said: "It's developed in quite an ad hoc way over the years because some of the funding we get for buildings is from research funding and so comes in on an ad hoc basis, and that's something we're attempting to address.
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"This is a long-term framework for development - the actual timescale will very much depend on funding coming in. It's a 10-20 year framework, we're not going to see a huge development over the next five years - it will all be done in a very controlled fashion.
"The west is where we have the poorest quality buildings, things like old hen houses that have been converted into buildings and are well past their sell by date so we would be looking to demolish a lot of buildings there."
Work on three new buildings is expected to begin within the next year. The Waddington is scheduled for completion in 2009, it will house the biological sciences department, facilities include new labs, research space and offices.
More biological science facilities added with an extension to the existing Ashworth complex. A learning and resource centre is currently being designed to sit at the new "green heart" of the campus.
The draft masterplan scheme has been approved by Edinburgh city council's planning committee and is now out for public consultation.
(GK/JM)
