the late 1950s also saw a major expansion of the royal college's campus onto the northern side of the original 1903 building, beginning with the new mechanical engineering building in 1958 on montrose street (subsequently named as the james weir building), and in 1962 a new chemistry building (later named for the college's famous alumnus thomas graham). a new student's union was built in 1959 on john street. all four buildings form what is now known as the "island site", and have undergone major renovations in recent years. in 1961 the royal college entered into an agreement with glasgow corporation to jointly redevelop the adjacent richmond street site which had recently been cleared of its slum housing. the development would give the college a new home for the andersonian library - the mccance building - and ultimately the merged university of strathclyde would take possession of this entire development which included the 13-storey livingstone tower in 1965.