27 July 2006

Triple award success for university building

A striking building at the heart of the University of Dundee has won a hat-trick of design and building awards including a prestigious prize for sustainability.

The Queen Mother Building, which was officially opened by The Princess Royal in March, has also been nominated for a number of other prizes.

So far the £6 million building, which houses the Division of Applied Computing, has won the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Scotland Award 2006 for sustainability and has been put forward for the grand final of the UK wide RICS awards.

It has also won a commendation in the Scottish Design Awards 2006 for the best publicly funded building and is the overall winner in the INCA (Insulated Render and Cladding Association) awards 2006.

Designed by Page and Park architects in Glasgow, the building features distinctive teaching "pods" and state-of-the-art teaching and research facilities.

David Yule, director of Campus Services at the University of Dundee, said he was "delighted" at the success of the Queen Mother Building.

"The sustainability award is particularly satisfying as it represents some recognition for the pioneering approach the University has taken for many years in designing with energy in mind," he said adding that the Queen Mother Building is designed to cut down on heating costs and avoid the need for air conditioning.

"With increasing energy bills and green issues that affect us all these kinds of projects will help secure the future of the University for generations to come. And the Queen Mother Building shows that sustainable designs can look good too!"

David added that he was keen to see more awards heading the University’s way in the future.

"The Estates Office prides itself in appointing quality design teams and I think the Library and Teaching Block projects, which are due to be completed next summer, will also receive their share of accolades."

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University of Dundee
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