Court approves plans for new IHW building

Published: 25 February 2019

Work to start on Clarice Pears Building later this year

University Court has given formal approval for the construction of a new building to house the Institute of Health and Wellbeing on the new Western site.

The new building will cost up to £49.6 million maximum, with designs to be submitted to Glasgow City Council for planning consent in spring of 2019, ahead of construction planned to commence in August.

The Clarice Pears Building was formally named in November, following a £5 million donation from the Pears Foundation, the largest in the University’s history.

Clarice Pears Building busy

It will be the third new building to be constructed through the University’s £1 billion Campus Development Programme and will co-locate staff currently based on 10 sites across Glasgow.

Jill Pell, Director of the Institute of Health and Wellbeing, said:

“The construction of this new building will revolutionise our research in Glasgow, improving how we work together, interact with partners and showcase our work.

“It will provide a modern, state-of the-art facility, bringing different research themes together under one roof, stimulating collaborations and increasing the impact of our research.

“I look forward to working with our designers and colleagues in the Institute to realise our ambition for the future of Health and Wellbeing at Glasgow.”

The new building will be transformative in four ways:

  • Colocation will allow for greater internal networking, promoting interdisciplinary working and identifying more collaborations;
  • It will allow researchers to develop more efficient partnerships with third parties, for example NHS, government, voluntary sector and industry;
  • The ground floor will be a publicly accessible space dedicated to knowledge exchange and engagement;
  • It will increase the Institute’s impact by becoming the “go to” place for individuals and organisations interested in improving health and reducing health inequalities.

The Clarice Pears Building will produce local, national and international health and economic benefits; reducing the demand on the health service and increasing productivity through reduced sickness absence and ill-health retirement.

First published: 25 February 2019

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