McCance Building & Livingstone Tower, Glasgow

Architect	Covell, Matthews & Partners
Date Built	Completed 1964
Location	George Street & Montrose Street
Description
The Livingstone Tower, named after David Livingstone, rises up from the lower McCance Building beside George Street in Glasgow. The complex of two buildings was completed in 1964 as a joint venture between the Corporation of Glasgow and The Royal College of Science & Technology, that became the University of Strathclyde. The initial idea was that the lower McCance Building was to be the Royal College's Arts, Social Studies and Library Building. The tower, known as Alec House at the time, was to be a commercial office block. Its Wikipedia page says that it was of, "... reinforced concrete construction, and was state of the art in its construction methods at the time – being clad with a curtain wall in opaque dark green glass spandrel panels framed by orange metal uprights. With its original commercial use in mind it featured an advanced elevator system for its day – four Otis Autotronic gearless lifts (also used in St. Andrew House on Sauchiehall Street) which were capable of responding to the traffic flow within the building at specific times of the day. The building is electrically heated and was also intended to feature a restaurant on the ground floor which the University later turned into a student refectory." The tower sits atop a 3-storey concrete podium shared with the neighbouring McCance Building, an NCP car park, and a row of retail units at street level on George Street. There is also private car parking for Glasgow City Council. In 2011 The University of Strathclyde published a "Campus Plan" in which it said, ".... The University plans to withdraw from the current buildings it occupies along George Street in a phased programme..." The plan was to move away from the McCance, Livingstone Tower and Collins buildings in 2023

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