Nuclear archive wins Scotland's best building award

Nucleus was one of 12 designs in the running for the Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award 2018

A national archive for the civil nuclear industry has won a top Scottish architecture prize.

Nucleus in Wick has been constructed to hold more than 70 years' worth of information and up to 30 million digital records.

It has won the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award for 2018.

Reiach & Hall Architects designed the archive.

• Scotland's best new buildings of 2018

• UK nuclear industry archive opens

Nucleus, built at a cost of £21m, was chosen from a shortlist of a total of 12 designs.

Among the other buildings in the running for the prize were Glasgow's Barmulloch Residents Centre, Boroughmuir High School in Edinburgh and The Black Shed in Skye.

The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority had the facility constructed at a former RAF site. The archive was opened last year.

Nucleus will also hold local archives dating back to the 16th Century

Many of the documents, photographs and technical drawings it will hold relate to Dounreay, an experimental nuclear power complex 30 miles (48km) away from Wick.

Papers, photographs and plans are also being sent for storage from nuclear sites at Harwell in Oxfordshire, Trawsfynydd in Snowdonia and Sellafield in Cumbria.

Nucleus will also store local archives dating back to the 16th Century.

The awards ceremony was held at the new V&A Dundee.

Fiona Hyslop, secretary for culture, tourism and external affairs, said: "Good design in our built environment is a key mechanism for supporting our economic success, taking forward our environmental objectives, contributing to our cultural continuity and promoting healthy lifestyles."