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St. Andrew’s College (formerly Notre Dame College) Bearsden, Scotland The buildings of St. Andrew’s College are intimately linked to the history of St Peter’s Catholic Seminary; when in 1966 the priest seminary moved from Bearsden to its new side near Cardross, the Archdiocese of Glasgow built in its stead new teacher training facilities. Those were designed by the same architects who had drawn up the plans for St Peters, the firm of Gillespie Kidd and Coia (GKC). For Bearsden GKC designed two teaching blocks, a physical education building, and five student accommodation buildings. The buildings are built on a U-shaped footprint, embracing a steeply sloping site with the teaching blocks occupying the lower part and the listed accommodation blocks towering high above, allowing for far reaching views. In 1969 the complex opened, then under the name of Notre Dame College. In 1981 it merged with Craiglockhart College and became a national Roman Catholic teacher training college; it was then that it received its new name St Andrews College. In 1998, the five residential blocks were listed at Category A. Amalgamation with Glasgow University in 1999 and the following relocation of teaching in 2002 to Glasgow meant that the Bearsden site was declared surplus to university requirements. The accommodation buildings are now boarded up while the teaching blocks are partially occupied by small businesses. St. Andrew’s College was built at the peak of Gillespie Kidd and Coia’s productivity, and despite being a lesser known example of their post-war output, it provides an insightful demonstration of the firm’s architectural theory and practice. The five residential blocks with their stark, stepped cubic forms composed of alternating advanced and recessed bays bring to mind aesthetic and architectural motifs of the era. The five separate blocks form an integrated unit when viewed from the teaching blocks below. The hillside positioning of the buildings together with the alternating rhythm of its unit volumes produce a seemingly singular structure that is at the same time highly complex. GKC’s design might be seen as a reference to various new university buildings in England. It echoes the ‘Shakespearean Seven’ universities, campuses built in England after the war, including Sussex, York, Kent and perhaps most influentially, Sir Denys Lasdun’s University of East Anglia whose stepped volumes might have been an inspiration for Bearsden. GkC’s residential blocks show a compact design with a minimum of circulation space, this being an integral part of a rational, modern planning formula. The Glasgow based developers Classical House have drawn up a scheme for the conversion of three of the residential blocks into a ‘prestige’ residential development. The most problematic aspect of their scheme is that it only addresses the hilltop part of the site; it does not include the lower area and the teaching blocks. Classical House would retain three of the five accommodation blocks and demolish the two blocks which form the rear row of accommodation. The developers argue that those buildings would have restricted views, and hence be less attractive for residential use, and furthermore that access for emergency vehicles to the buildings would not comply with current regulations. As far as we know East Dunbartonshire Council are not raising objections to the scheme, although Listed Building Consent has not yet been granted. In spite of the threat to part of the Category A listed blocks Historic Scotland are not known to object either, most likely because of a wish to see a speedy re-use for the listed buildings even if this was to happen at the cost of losing listed fabric. The Twentieth Century Society believes that all listed blocks should be retained and reused. Removal of the rear accommodation blocks would radically alter the layout and concept of the site, eliminating the street between the blocks which successfully creates a moment of urbanity. The future of the unlisted teaching blocks is uncertain. The blocks
are architecturally less distinguished but in sound condition and
their reuse seems feasible; the buildings provide ample floor space
which could be converted for a number of uses. The Council has commissioned
planning consultants to draw up options for the buildings; future
uses might include a business park, reuse by the Bearsden Academy
Secondary School which currently occupies a nearby site, or affordable
housing. But so far no concrete proposals have been brought forward.
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