Livingstone Tower (Glasgow)

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One of Strathclyde University's most prominent (if not pretty) buildings, it can be seen for some considerable distance on the city centre skyline. Affectionately known as the "Livvy" by students, it is a 13-storey tower block that was originally built by Glasgow Corporation in 1964 as speculative offices. However, the hoped-for private tenants didn't materialise, so the following year the whole lot was leased to the newly established Strathclyde University who have used it as an academic building ever since. Because its intended use as an office block never happened, history has virtually forgotten the Livvy's original name - Alec House.

Today the following departments live there; Modern Languages, English, Maths, Statistics and Computer Science. Levels 2 & 3 are all lecture rooms, Level 6 houses the Careers Service, and there is a cafe on Level 1(known as The Venue) - so pretty much every Strathclyder spends time in the Livvy at some point in their student career.

Little know fact: The games designer Chris Sawyer studied here, and when he created Rollercoaster Tycoon he added a piece of scenery in the Urban theme called 'Livingstone Tower'. The tower also features in one of his earlier games, Transport Tycoon*.

2nd little know fact: The lifts in this building go to Level 14, but there is a Level 15 accessible only via a stairwell. Originally it was only there to access the lift machinery. In fact, the mysterious Level 15 used to be the Principal's penthouse - added to the roof sometime in the 1970s, and was essentially a flat which he stayed in when he didn't fancy going home to his missus. In 2000, this was replaced by the Hunter Centre for Entrepreneurship when they built a further extension to the roof.

Ambitious plans were mooted in the 2000s to knock it down along with the entire complex, but this plan seems to have been quietly forgotten and the building will continue to stand for the forseeable future.

*www.chrissawyer.com/feature1a.htm