Work begins on £300m University of Glasgow teaching and research building in the West End

Construction of the Keystone Building is due to get underway this month, with completion scheduled for the 2028/29 academic year. The development is projected to cost £300million.

The Keystone Building is the fifth major building to be constructed through the University of Glasgow’s £1.3 billion Campus Development Programme. It will be a world-class facility dedicated to learning, teaching, and research, and accommodate around 3,600 students. 

The new development will span a total of 27,000 square metres, making it the second largest building on the University’s campus by size, after the Gilbert Scott Building.

Designed by HOK architects and constructed by the University's principal contractor, Multiplex, the building will serve as a hub for students of all disciplines and offer a mix of general teaching spaces, technical facilities, collaborative areas and a café. 

Alongside general learning and teaching areas, the Keystone Building will house a range of dry and wet lab spaces, as well as high-spec computing labs. It will also provide a maker’s workshop and general teaching facilities for the University of Glasgow’s James Watt School of Engineering.

The Keystone will be the University’s most sustainable building, aiming to achieve 'BREEAM Excellent' certification, along with ambitious energy use targets. 

Professor Sir Anton Muscatelli, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of the University of Glasgow said: “The Keystone Building is the exciting next step in our Campus Development Programme, which is transforming our campus and the student experience at the University of Glasgow. 

“This is a hugely significant investment for our community, providing state of the art learning and teaching facilities for over 3,600 students, which will allow us to continue to attract the brightest and best students and staff to Glasgow. In addition, it will deliver a range of specialist equipment and spaces to support our world-leading education in Engineering and Biomedical sciences.

This investment in Keystone also signifies the University’s continued commitment to being a civic institution for Glasgow, creating vibrant new spaces which will be of benefit to not only our own students, but also to our local community.”

Gary Clark, HOK's regional principal of Science +Technology, said: “The Keystone represents the future of interdisciplinary science and teaching with advanced research labs, teaching ‘super labs’ and the latest in sustainable design. 

“Once open, it will be one of the largest net-zero-carbon university buildings in the UK, and one of the most welcoming, with neuro-inclusive workspaces embedded throughout.

“The building complements the historic architecture of the University of Glasgow through the use of stone, brick and terracotta while its dramatic responsive façade design, inspired by Victorian architecture, reveals the art of the possible in terms of both scientific learning and net-zero development.”