Dundee University Life Sciences Innovation Hub

Location: Dundee

Brick Manufacturer: Michelmersh Brick Holdings PLC

Brick Name: Blockleys Bowland Grey

Architect: Oberlanders Architects

Brickwork Contractor: Robertson Construction Tayside LTD

The University of Dundee's new Life Sciences Innovation Hub, designed by Oberlander Architects as part of the Tay Cities Deal, is a building that takes its environmental responsibilities as seriously as its economic ones. Forecast to support 800 new life sciences jobs and deliver £190 million of regional benefit by 2053, the Hub needed to be built for the long term in every sense. Sustainability is not a feature here; it is the foundation.

The structural approach sets the tone. A post-tensioned concrete frame reduces material use across the 54,000 square foot building while meeting the demanding performance requirements of laboratory environments, where structural loads, vibration control and services integration all place exceptional pressure on a building's fabric. Where less material can do the same job, less material is used.

The building envelope goes significantly beyond minimum regulatory standards for airtightness and insulation, reducing heat loss and lowering the operational energy demand across laboratory, dry lab and office spaces alike. That demand is then met cleanly: a ground source heat pump system, drawing on shallow borehole technology, serves as the primary energy source, displacing fossil fuel consumption at the point of use.

Orientation has been considered as a passive sustainability tool throughout the design. The building is arranged to maximise useful daylight, manage solar gain across its glazed elevations, and reduce the need for artificial lighting and mechanical cooling. The generous central atrium, which serves as the social heart of the Hub, draws natural light deep into the plan while supporting the ventilation strategy.

Material selection reinforces the long-term thinking. Blockleys Bowland Grey, an extruded wirecut brick with a grey multi finish, clads the laboratory wing and the harder urban edge of the building facing the adjacent industrial area. Brick is among the most durable facing materials available: it requires no coating, no periodic replacement and minimal maintenance over a building's lifetime. In a district designed to grow and evolve over decades, specifying a material that will perform without intervention is itself a sustainability decision.

The result is a building whose environmental ambition is structural, not cosmetic. From the ground source energy system beneath it to the fired clay on its facade, the Hub is built to last, and built to cost less, in every sense, over the course of its long life.