Nine Woolgar Hunter Projects Shortlisted for Scottish Structural Awards

Nine projects engineered by Woolgar Hunter have been shortlisted for a total of ten awards at the IStructE Scottish Structural Awards 2024. The last year has been a busy one for the Woolgar Hunter team, with the completion of projects which have challenged our engineers to devise creative, innovative and sustainable solutions to realise clients’ ambitions for their sites. We are delighted with this recognition from the IStructE for these projects and the engineering talent in our teams.

The two Woolgar Hunter projects in the Best Commercial Development category are in the city’s booming International Financial Services District, where we have engineered many buildings in recent years. 177 Bothwell St delivered over 29,000sqm of grade A office space, with a structural design that maximises its steeply sloped site to accommodate a double-storey basement, and rooftop tenant amenities, including terraces and a running track. One Central, Argyle St provides a new Glasgow technology base for JP Morgan, with office space for more than 2,700 staff. The 18m floor spans allow the building to be adapted to the clients changing needs, while a bespoke isolation system was developed to mitigate vibrations from a Network Rail tunnel which abuts the site.

In the Best Residential Development category, we received nominations for Park Quadrant and Candleriggs Square. At Park Quadrant, we engineered the completion of Charles Wilson’s Victorian masterplan for Park Circus, designing a row of over 100 apartments in a block that delivers visual impact while complementing the famous existing architecture. At Candleriggs Square, we engineered a masterplan which has transformed a large site in the Merchant City, creating a vibrant mixed-use community with a large new mixed-stay hotel and over 340 new rental apartments. The project involved navigating a Network Rail tunnel below the site, and retaining a historic sandstone fa?ade on the Trongate.

Edmiston House, the new retail and events space for Rangers FC, is shortlisted for Best Cultural/Events Space. The low-carbon fan zone and community hub includes a column free events space which can be reconfigured for a wide range of uses, as well as retail space, a museum, café and bar. Accessibility was at the heart of the design, with wheelchair users able to move round the whole space using the same entrances and journeys through the building.

In Historical Refurbishments, Kelvin Hall in Glasgow was shortlisted, where we designed and constructed a full film/TV studio inside the historic exhibition hall. This protected the architecturally significant building, while catering to the city's modern needs and preventing unnecessary demolition or construction. Also shortlisted is Younger Hall at the University of St Andrews, where internal renovations required bespoke steel arrangements to support the unusual layout. With limited as-built information, our teams carried out extensive survey and inspection to tailor designs as the project progressed. Woolgar Hunter has significant experience of historic refurbs, providing modern facilities in architecturally sensitive, lower carbon schemes.

In education, we designed the new building for the Usher Institute at the Edinburgh BioQuarter - shortlisted for Best Project in Higher Education/Research. Woolgar Hunter was brought in to refine a scheme which had become unwieldy, reducing costs and carbon content to provide a workplace focussed on collaboration and wellbeing. On the East Calder Primary School - shortlisted for Best School Building and Best Sustainability Project - the school set out to be both an exemplar of low whole-life carbon and a fun, nurturing environment for children to learn in. Efficiencies were designed into the steel frame, giving the building embodied carbon figures well below the RIBA 2030 targets, along with passive features like solar protections and direct electric water heating.