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QUB – Lynn Library

Posted April 20, 2016.

LOCATION: University Square, Belfast
CLIENT: Queens University Belfast
MAIN CONTRACTOR: Woodvale Construction
COMPLETION DATE: March 2015
CONTRACT VALUE: £570k

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:

The two-storey, grade B listed, Lynn Building has been beautifully refurbished to create a Graduate School in a key historical location on the Main Site. The School reflects an integral strand in the University’s Vision which is to develop a vibrant and ambitious postgraduate and postdoctoral culture, with significant increases in postgraduate taught, postgraduate research and postdoctoral numbers.

The ground floor offers reception and administrative support space, training facilities, meeting rooms, and social spaces. The building’s first floor features a central open-plan, double height, vaulted space with masonry gothic arches and aisles to each side. This is a really impressive and beautiful internal space featuring a Postgraduate Study Room (with individual study desks) in one area, as well as a large social/breakout/circulation space, with smaller rooms coming directly off the aisles.

Externally, the glazed link which used to connect the first floor of the Lynn Building to the first floor of the former Library Tower (now being redeveloped as a new home for the School of Law and social hub) has been removed, restoring the building to its original stand-alone status. The exterior brick and stonework has also been restored and the building re-roofed.

A new entrance gives level access from the north-south pedestrian walkway running from University Square to the Quad. As part of the overall redevelopment of the area, the space between the Lynn and the Lanyon buildings (previously used as a car park) has been landscaped and ground lighting installed to highlight entrance routes and illuminate building facades.

Project development costs were £4m.