This year’s shortlist includes projects that celebrate architecture’s place alongside other disciplines in the built environment, including a public realm project that transforms the landscape of central Aberdeen, and a new destination and a rural infrastructure project that preserves a previously overladen historic bridge.

Furthermore, the shortlist highlights the value of futureproofing, both in new and old buildings – from the skilful restoration of a historic landmark in the Highlands, bringing this back into use for the enjoyment of visitors and generations to come, to a new education building for University of Edinburgh, which has been designed from the outset to adapt to new and evolving ways of working, studying and teaching.

The four shortlisted projects for the 2025 RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award are:

Fairburn Tower (Muir of Ord, Highlands) by Simpson & Brown

Built in the 16th Century and added to in the 17th, this remote Category A listed structure is a rare example of a surviving tower house from the Scottish Renaissance. Having fallen into a state of disrepair, it was on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland before the Landmark Trust identified the potential to rescue the tower and transform this into a characterful self-catering holiday let, well-suited to today’s visitors.

Following rigorous research, the design was implemented with great sympathy and close attention to detail - balancing authentic restoration of Scotland’s built heritage with a creative, sustainable retrofit and reuse approach. Challenges such as installing electrical cabling, plumbing and bathrooms were inventively overcome. Key features include a Renaissance-style painted ceiling, created in collaboration with artist-craftsman Paul Mowbray. 

Gairnshiel Jubilee Bridge (Glengairn, Aberdeenshire) by Moxon Architects

The Gairnshiel Jubilee Bridge provides a new route over the River Gairn, diverting traffic away from the Category A-listed Gairnshiel Bridge immediately upstream, as this was no longer suitable for modern-day traffic and detours were causing lengthy delays. The elegant and understated new crossing features a slim-line, bold geometry.

Its robust material palette includes recycled, locally sourced granite for the parapets and embankments and weathering steel for the primary structure, rooting the new bridge into its immediate context of the Cairngorms. As such, Gairnshiel Jubilee Bridge offers a offers a simple, but confident companion to the historic crossing, which has been set aside for pedestrian use to safeguard this for future generations. 

The Nucleus Building, University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh) by Sheppard Robson

Designed as the vibrant new heart for the University of Edinburgh, this building provides a much-needed focal point and meeting place for students and staff, seamlessly uniting a rich variety of teaching, learning and social environments. From quiet individual focus to lively collaboration, this diverse array of spaces allows the building to support different ways of studying, teaching and socialising.

This not only creates a resilient and responsive learning environment for a world-leading academic community, but also seeks to enhance the wider student and staff experience. Proudly integrated into the local community, the Nucleus Building is a considered, enduring and generous example of civic architecture, that responds to a multifaceted brief and sets a powerful precedent for Scottish university design.

Union Terrace Gardens (Aberdeen) by Stallan-Brand Architecture + Design & LDA Design

This ambitious public-realm regeneration project has revived Aberdeen’s key public space, reclaiming Union Terrace Garden as the city’s green, civic heart. Three refined, lantern-like pavilions sit in harmony with their historic context, and accommodate a café, restaurant and wine bar.

The project also delivers extensive landscape and engineering work, enriched with conservation elements including the sensitively restored statues, railings, arcade arches and subterranean Victorian toilets – now proudly reinstated and open to the public. As a result, Union Terrace Gardens is now a landmark cultural and inclusive destination that demonstrates the power of contextual, people-centred design in transforming a city’s sense of place.

Established 23 years ago in 2002, the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award marks the pinnacle of the RIAS’ annual awards programme. It borrows its name from visionary Scottish architect/developer Andy Doolan, who passionately believed in the importance of promoting great design and making architecture accessible to everyone. In his memory, the Doolan Award seeks to find and celebrate the best building in Scotland each year, with ongoing support from the Scottish Government. 

Architectural projects in all sectors and in all regions of Scotland are eligible, and the shortlist is drawn from the winners of the 2025 RIAS Awards, which were announced in June. The projects are assessed by an expert jury, comprising Mary Duggan (jury chair) – founder, Mary Duggan Architects; Gordon Murray – research & design consultant, Gordon Murray Architects; and Richard Waite – news editor, Architects’ Journal.

The 2025 Doolan Award jury look at each project’s architectural integrity, usability and context, delivery and execution, and sustainability. Following this announcement, the judges will visit each of the shortlisted visits, ahead of determining the winner of the 2025 RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award, which will be announced in December.

Mary Duggan, chair of the 2025 Doolan Award jury, said: “This year’s rigorous selection process has produced a diverse shortlist of intelligent schemes that not only demonstrate architectural excellence but also engage directly with the shifting political and behavioural circumstances that shape our public life. They reveal how architecture can reinforce, respond to, and even anticipate these changes. I look forward to the upcoming visits and the conversations with my fellow jury members.”