Learning Resource Centre wins Learning Places Scotland Award
Queen Margaret University’s newly refurbished Learning Resource Centre (LRC) took home gold at the Learning Places Scotland Awards 2025, being recognised in the Pupil/Student Experience category for improving student wellbeing, social interaction and learning.
QMU’s submission not only emphasised the architectural quality and flexibility of the refurbished space, but also its real-world impact. The LRC’s £2.1 million transformation boosts student satisfaction, provides more opportunity for informal teaching, caters to diverse needs, and creates a vibrant environment for communal learning.
From the moment the space reopened at the end of 2024, usage increased. Surveys showed a rise in student engagement, with overwhelmingly positive feedback on the atmosphere, aesthetics, design, and overall comfort of the new spaces.
Bruce Laing, Director of Campus Services, said: “The Learning Places Scotland award highlights the significance of designing learning environments that are not only visually improved but genuinely enhance the student experience and respond to the ways learners interact with the space.
“The Learning Resource Centre refurbishment was an opportunity to rethink one of the most important places on campus. When we began this Future Spaces project in collaboration with Morris & Spottiswood, our objective was straightforward - to create a study environment that better reflects how students work today and how their needs will evolve. Students told us they wanted more flexibility, clearer zoning, and spaces that could support both quiet focus and group collaboration. The refurbishment allowed us to address those priorities directly - we examined everything from lighting and acoustics to furniture density and circulation, with the aim of creating a more coherent and more functional environment.”
Stakeholder engagement was central to Future Spaces - students, staff, and other university partners were deeply involved in shaping the redesign through workshops, surveys, and open consultations.
The project has resulted in a space that supports a wide range of study styles and offers students greater choice in how they work. The feedback since reopening shows that students are using the space more, staying for longer periods, and engaging with the different zones as intended. Receiving recognition for this work reinforces the value of taking a data-driven, student-led approach to campus development.
Future Spaces was delivered in collaboration with Morris & Spottiswood, ADP Architects, HD Property Consultants, Harley Haddow M&E Consultants, and iDEA, among others. Their shared vision helped ensure the space was not just aesthetically pleasing but deeply functional, resilient, and future-focused.
The Learning Places Scotland award is a powerful validation of QMU’s investment in thoughtful future proofing, creating learning environments that truly prioritise the student experience. It not only recognises the success of the LRC refurbishment project but also underlines QMU’s broader ambition to provide modern, flexible, and inclusive spaces for its community.
QMU was presented with the Pupil/Student Experience award at a ceremony celebrating excellence and achievement in the design, construction and management of Scotland’s learning environments at Glasgow’s Hilton Hotel on the 18th November 2025.
For further media information contact Emma Reekie, Media and Content Officer, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh, E: ereekie@qmu.ac.uk (copy to E: pressoffice@qmu.ac.uk).
