The refurbishment of the tower is designed by UK-based practice Associated Architects and the project is made possible through funds from alumni, foundations and trusts. The cost of the project is estimated to be more than GBP40 million ($64.8 million approx.).
The Muirhead Tower is a sixteen-story building designed by Sir Philip Dowson of Arup Associates, comprising over 12,000 square meters of gross floor space in two towers and a podium base, and completed in 1971. Although of exceptional design quality, this landmark building has suffered from failure of its glazing system, and deterioration of the exposed concrete has made the podium unsafe. The project involved rectification of these technical issues together with complete upgrading of M&E services, fire engineering, improved accessibility, and vertical circulation.
The renovation led by the university’s Estates Team completely remodeled the tower to create a state of the art home for the university’s College of Social Sciences and Special Collections. The 12th floor of the building also includes a hospitality suite with a fully-functional kitchen and board room boasting panoramic views out across the city.
The tower integrates a number of sustainable features, including solar shading to control temperatures, as well as low energy fans; timed lighting to reduce energy waste; natural ventilation systems and a heat source taken from the university’s combined heat and power generator.
The space has been designed to create modern, attractive spaces for teaching and research including a new 200 seat lecture theater. The university’s Special Collections will be based in the purpose built Cadbury Research Library. This brings all the university’s collections under one roof, including the famous Mingana collection of middle-eastern manuscripts. The Special Collections space has been designed to be fire / moisture protected and temperature controlled to protect the priceless collection of manuscripts.
The project undertook sensitive remodeling and refurbishment. The refurbished tower accommodates 150 academic offices and 230 post graduate writeup spaces. The podium is remodeled around the existing Allardyce Nicol studio theater providing additional rehearsal spaces and changing and technical facilities. The podium level is extended to provide additional stairs, space for the cafe and to provide a new building main entrance.
Muirhead Tower was named after the university’s first professor of philosophy, John Henry Muirhead and originally completed in 1971. John Muirhead was one of the pioneers of training for social work, a subject that the university has taught and researched for over 100 years.
