The Council of the Glasgow Institute of Architects, as Trustees of the Alexander Thomson Scholarship, are pleased to announce the launch of the 37th edition of the triennial competition.

This edition is titled Reimagine Saint Vincent Street

The competition seeks to provoke a debate on how we re-use, or occupy A listed Buildings that have fallen vacant.

Submission Deadline: 14th September 2024

Results Announced: 20th November 2024 at the annual GIA design award dinner

Sciennes Primary School, an 1892 grade-B listed structure, has been expanded with Scotland's first Passivhaus CLT school structure.

The new pavilion seamlessly integrates into the playground and its surroundings with a carefully detailed stone finish. Its open-plan layout promotes interactive learning, while ample windows and well-placed roof lights flood the space with natural light. The surrounding landscape features benches, lush greenery, and a rain garden offering outdoor learning and relaxation spaces.

At the forefront of sustainability, and despite challenges posed by the site, the new pavilion adheres to Passivhaus standards and is soon to receive certification, making Sciennes the first primary school in Scotland to receive Passivhaus Certification. The CLT structure creates an inviting atmosphere and not only ensures thermal comfort by minimising cold bridging but also contributes to carbon storage and environmental preservation, with every cubic meter of CLT sequestering one tonne of CO2. Furthermore, this material's recyclability and biodegradability underline the team’s dedication to eco-conscious practices.

The design centres on a fabric-first approach, addressing air tightness and thermal performance (including triple glazing). Achieving an ambitious air tightness rating of 0.28, the building envelope minimises openings, cold bridging. An integrated mechanical strategy, encompassing a mechanical ventilation heat recovery system (MVHR) and air source heat pumps, further accentuates our devotion to sustainability.

Link to Eventbrite

Event Details:

Date and Time: Friday 16th August 2024, 1 pm – 3pm

Location: 10 Sciennes Road Edinburgh EH9 1LG

Montgomerie Park Primary School is a new non-denominational primary school for 342 pupils with a dedicated early learning and childcare facility to support 47 places. The new school supports the currently developing Montgomerie Park masterplan area and adjacent existing residential areas, north-east of Irvine town centre. The building creates a formal landmark into the Montgomerie Park masterplan from the primary eastern approach along Long Drive.

The project comprises of 12 primary classrooms, early learning facilities, General Purpose rooms, a gymnasium incorporating flexible performance areas, dining facilities and outdoor learning spaces. The facility also includes a new All-Weather Pitch and Playground Area which compliments the existing topography of the site and offers multiple opportunities to engage with nature including a bird hide onlooking the adjacent SUDs Pond.

The new school is designed to and will be certified against Passivhaus criteria to minimise operational energy consumption and contribute to North Ayrshire Council's ambition towards Net Zero Carbon. The new school has been designed with end user requirements as a priority and will be the first Passivhaus primary school in North Ayrshire Council.

The project is in the final stages of construction, with completion scheduled for August 2024.

Link to Eventbrite

Event Details:

Date and Time: Friday 26th July 2024, 12 noon – 3:30pm

Location: Montgomerie Park Primary School, Turnpike Way, Irvine

(what3words: https://w3w.co/dispensed.grass.boating)

All visitors are required to bring PPE during the visit, this includes hard hat, hi-vis vest/jacket, protective eye coverings, gloves and boots.

In advance of UK Parliamentary General Election in July 2024, New Glasgow Society and Glasgow Institute of Architects are organising an evening of Hustings for Glasgow’s Built Environment.

The hustings event for Glasgow’s Built Environment is an excellent platform for candidates of main political parties to manifest their visions focussing on the built environment in the city. Representatives of main political parties will join us as panellists fielding questions from the general public, and discussing their plans for the city - it’s architecture, heritage, and places.

Panellists confirmed so far:

Patricia Ferguson (Scottish Labour Party, Glasgow West)

Daniel O'Malley (Scottish Liberal Democrats, Glasgow North)

David Stark (Reform UK, Rutherglen)

Scottish Conservatives Party, Scottish National Party and Scottish Greens will announce their panellists joining the hustings in due course.

Do you have any questions for the panellists that you would like to raise in advance of the event?

Please email questions to : app@gia.org.uk

 Free Admission and Tickets via Eventbrite.

9am -6pm

Sign up on eventbrite here:

The Merchants House, Glasgow

Join us for our next sustainability tour led by Duncan McLean (Director of Landscape Architecture at LUC)

Less than 1mile from Glasgow city centre, the Claypits project facilitates access to a significant new greenspace. Formerly designated as ‘Vacant and Derelict Land’ it is now Glasgow’s only inner city Nature Reserve. As such it offers a variety of benefits in the local community.

Group Meeting Point:  St Georges Cross Underground – then walk to the site

Tickets:                  Max 20 people 

Tickets via Eventbrite:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sustainable-landscapes-tour-claypits-brownfield-site-sustainable-design-tickets-715474652947?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=ebdsshcopyurl

Join us for our next sustainability tour led by Duncan McLean (Director of Landscape Architecture at LUC)

This project is one of the largest development projects in Glasgow. It is transforming the site of the former Western Infirmary through the delivery of several new University faculty buildings, and the creation of various new streets and spaces. The expansion of the campus aims to cement the University’s place as a World Class campus for research and education.

Tour: Western Campus Glasgow University New Campus (Urban Sustainable Design)

Date Proposed: Friday 27th October 2023

Time:  2pm – 4pm  

Meeting Group:Outside New Campus Building – exact location Tbc nearer the date.

Tickets: Via eventbrite: Max 20 people 

This year’s celebration of the fantastic work produced by the students of Glasgow’s Architecture Schools will be held at civic house.

This event is your opportunity to see Glasgow’s best architecture students talk about their work. Held at the Cantine, at Civic House, this is a chance to see the GIA Student Award winners and their projects presented by the students themselves.

Come and learn more about how recycled Scottish construction and demolition waste is being converted into the world’s lowest carbon facing bricks by Kenoteq, developers of the pioneering K-Briq®.

After over a decade of R&D at Heriot Watt University in Edinburgh together with one of Scotland’s leading waste management companies, 3 million certified K-Briqs will be rolling off the new commercial production line in East Lothian from 2023 to bring new ways to enhance both the embodied carbon performance and aesthetic of projects.

Kenoteq will present and discuss the story behind the award-winning K-Briq and K-Slips, showcase their new production facility and the products as well as share their technical specification, sustainability data and news on some key projects.

The K-Briq will be certified by the BBA and have its final certified EPD available in Autumn 2023.

Potential group travel arrangements TBC closer to the date.

Join the Glasgow Institute of Architects as we visit Glasgow Wood to learn about how they are - contributing to a more circular economy.

Glasgow Wood (see glasgowwood.org.uk) is a social enterprise charity that recycles timber and also sells ungraded timber from sawmills that would otherwise be chipped or sent to landfill.

It is linked to a number of similar organisations around the UK, and is one of the biggest.

Their workshop produces various simple timber products made from scaffold boards or whisky barrels, and can fabricate bespoke wooden designs to order.

Its staff include folk who may be have been previously sidelined or unemployed and they are complemented by a large number of volunteers.

The organisation is a valuable resource that should be used more by the construction industry, and Glasgow architects should be more aware that it is a source of cheap timber and a joinery facility that ticks all the boxes regarding sustainability and the circular economy.

Sign up on eventbrite here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/gia-visits-glasgow-wood-tickets-654013892157?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listing&utm-source=cp&aff=escb