James Weir Building (Glasgow)

United Kingdom / Scotland / Glasgow / Montrose Street, 75
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One of the largest and most important buildings on the Strathclyde University campus, its main tenants are the departments of Mechanical and Civil Engineering, but the Weir Building's significance goes much further. It's usually the first building that most students ever set foot in; as Open Days for school pupils are held here, as is Registration on your first day in first year. It's also a useful shortcut to get to Cathedral Street without having to climb the awful hill!

Built in 1957-61 to a design by Walter Underwood, it was built as a new Engineering Block for the Royal College of Science and Technology - the first of the post-war buildings, and the beginning of the massive campus expansion programme that would take the College through its transition into Strathclyde University. Named after the founder of Weir Pumps - an aluminus of the Royal College.

1st bit of Trivia: The Weir was built in two stages - the first part in 1957-58, the remaining bit in 1962-63. Look outside and you can still see the join - the bricks are a slightly different colour, even after over 50 years. When you are inside, you can still detect the hump in the corridor floor where the join is as the two sections of the building have subsided at different rates. Before the building was internally refurbished in 2014, keen eyed spotters could see the fixtures and fittings at the north end of the building were different from the rest.

2nd bit of Trivia. The Weir Building has an TV alter-ego - as the fictitious Murray Thompson Building in the BBC Scotland drama "Sea of Souls", where it becomes part of the equally fictional Clyde University. During my time there I spotted actor Bill Paterson a few times, and some lucky students even managed to get themselves in front of the cameras as extras...fancy that!
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Coordinates:   55°51'44"N   4°14'44"W

Comments

  • With only one lift your going to be walking and there are 4 flights of stairs between each floor. Guess its one way to keep fit.
This article was last modified 4 years ago