The Engineering and Maintenance Department is responsible for maintaining the extensive laboratory, administration and ancillary facilities at SCRI. They are also responsible for electrical, heating, plumbing, data/telephony cabling, painting and joinery work and supervise any major building work carried out by subcontractors.

The SCRI site contains a range of disparate buildings housing administrative offices, research facilities and storage areas for scientific and farm equipment and plant material including the Commonwealth
Potato Collection. As well as maintaining the estate’s buildings the department also carries out a continual programme of refurbishment.

As part of improvements to SCRI’s estate measures have been taken to reduce utilities costs by reducing the consumption of energy. Routine maintenance and repairs of scientific equipment are also carried out by the department to help restrict costs.

The farm workshop, run by the department, provides a repair and maintenance service to the SCRI’s fleet of tractors and agricultural machinery.