£7 million centre planned for town

Craig Nisbet, The Citizen, 11 September 1998

Plans for a new multi-million pound St Andrews Gateway Centre are being unveiled today.

The project, being led by St Andrews International Ltd. and St Andrews University, is earmarked for a prominent site adjacent to the main entrance to St Andrews at the roundabout on the Guardbridge approach.

Inside, the new Gateway Centre - with a price tag of almost £7 million - will be conference and exhibition facilities, a new golf and health club and a state-of-the-art museum that will, for the first time, give the public an insight to many of the fascinating collections held by St Andrews University.

Designed as a focal point for visitors arriving in St Andrews, the project is being funded by private investment and institutions which are mainly Scottish-based.

Earlier this week, a formal planning application for the three-storey building, which is planned for the south side of the A91 on four acres of ground in front of the university’s new biomolecular sciences building, was lodged with Fife Council.

A spokesman for St Andrews International Ltd. stressed that while the plan - prepared by Glasgow architects Davis Duncan Harrold - is in detailed form, a consultation process with all interested bodies is now being opened.

Pending formal planning permission, the development is scheduled for completion early in 2000.

"Recent developments within St Andrews, like the new Byre Theatre proposals and the impressive new infrastructure being introduced by the St Andrews Links Trust, are of the highest quality and go a long way towards setting the benchmarks for the future market position of St Andrews on the world stage,” he said.

To enhance this vision and further promote a visitor infrastructure in support of these new developments, St Andrews International Ltd. and St Andrews University will create a visitor facility at the entrance to the town which is truly world class and indicative of the university’s and the town’s international importance.

“The principal purpose of the St Andrews Gateway Centre is to reflect a mixture of all the elements which make St Andrews such a significant destination on the international stage; its medieval buildings, its university being the first and foremost in Scotland and a globally-significant intellectual centre, and its Links being the most famous in the world.”

The University of St Andrews is a key contributor to one of the centre’s primary features: a state-of-the-art museum and exhibition designed to depict the integrated development of the university and the town and to celebrate the remarkable international impact which Scotland’s first major seat of learning has made since its mediaeval beginnings.

The university holds in its care a variety of collections of international repute. The exhibition centre will bring these collections fully into the public domain for the first time using a mix of modern and traditional techniques, but will also demonstrate the continuing scientific and artistic pre-eminence of the contemporary university through displays of the internationally-renowned research currently being undertaken at St Andrews.

“The opportunity to display these significant collections in a modern facility is an exciting prospect which, if realised, will offer a fascinating insight into the history and development of the University of St Andrews for visitors and residents. Such a Centre would also provide a much needed focal point for prospective, new and former students of the University,” said David Corner, secretary of the University of St Andrews.

Within the ‘Home of Golf’ element of the building, the St Andrews World of Golf will be brought to life in a club environment offering visitors and locals the opportunity to be immersed in the many experiences and emotions which St Andrews presents to, and evokes in, the golf enthusiast from all over the world. The club will also provide a club lounge, corporate facilities, technical and general assistance in its golf clinic and working library, a health club and a business lounge for those visitors who are not able to completely divorce their work from their passion.

To ensure that the centre reflects the heritage and mediaeval atmosphere of the town, whilst creating a dynamic and contemporary statement, St Andrews International Ltd. reviewed a variety of architectural presentations. Ultimately St Andrews International Ltd, retained Davis Duncan Harrold, the Edinburgh and Glasgow-based architectural firm known for its design quality in a wide range of projects, from historic renovation to contemporary developments in sensitive locations.

“Ours is an architecture which is never designed to exist in isolation,” said David Harrold, director, Davis Duncan Harrold Architects.

“In the St Andrews Gateway Centre, we have come up with a design which we believe creates and defines form and space within its parkland (North Haugh) surroundings. The building is sympathetic to the historic backdrop of these surroundings and yet is also of its time.”

The proposed building will feature a water ‘moat’ surrounding the building in familiar mediaeval style.

Jeremy Grieve, of St Andrews International, added: “We believe that the St Andrews Gateway Centre will serve to bring the world of St Andrews, past and present, to life through interpretation of its three main elements - golf, academia and heritage.”