The Kane Building celebrates 50th Anniversary

17 Nov 2021

Happy 50th birthday to UCC's iconic Kane Science Building which was opened in 1971. For the past half a century, UCC students and staff have brought the lecture theatres and labs of the Kane to life, with their own unique experiences of the building.

Fondly remembered by generations of UCC alumni, the Kane Science Building was opened in 1971 and sits in the heart of the UCC's campus. For many years known as the Science Building, it is now the Kane Building named after Sir Robert Kane FRS, the first President of Queen's College Cork. A multi-storey reinforced concrete structure, it is the location of the university’s Physics and Chemistry departments, for both undergraduate studies and research work. The building houses major lecture theatres, UCC IT Services and spaces for Civil Engineering and Film Studies. 

Construction started after the Government sanction of funding of £1.5m in January 1967. The building includes two large lecture halls, which helped to relieve congestion in the Arts Faculty that up to that point only had access to the lecture theatres in the West Wing and Dairy Science (now Geography) Building.

The building also housed the Department of Chemistry, a Department of Mathematical Science, and a large-scale department of Experimental Physics, which then included a small nuclear physics laboratory.

The new building also included libraries for the departments in the building, thus relieving congestion on the main library that was still located in its original position in the North Wing of the quadrangle. A model of the Kane Building shows a car park at the southern end of the building in the basement but this was not built and was replaced by the Kampus Kitchen. The much loved 'Kampus Kitchen' was used as a student restaurant, exam hall, study space and even a venue for live music performances in the late 1970s.

It was estimated that the construction would finish in early summer of 1970 but owing to various difficulties it was not finally completed until the following year. The Kane Building entered into full use in the autumn of 1971.

For the past half a century, UCC students and staff have brought the lecture theatres and labs of the Kane to life, with their own unique experiences of the building. To celebrate the 50th anniverary, an architectural model created circa. 1967 is currently on display in the ground floor of the Kane building. We also invite you to share your memories and stories of the Kane Building with us which we will build into a commemorative repository to mark the 50th anniversary of this iconic piece of UCC's built heritage - email p.finucane@ucc.ie.

Further information on the Kane Building can be found here.

For more on this story contact:

Patricia Finucane, Marketing and Communications Manager, College of Science, Engineering and Food Science - p.finucane@ucc.ie