The building, which is made of concrete, consists of a two-storey base supporting a six-storey tower. There is a large glass-sided stair tower on the side. Inside is an entrance hall on two levels with a large mural titled Metamorphosis, by Victor Pasmore.
The Renold Building contains a number of lecture halls of differing sizes, including a 500-seat theatre, two 300-seat theatres, and five 140-seat theatres. According to Pevsner's Architectural Guide, "The idea was to provide a central facility for rooms that would otherwise have been dispersed amongst separate departmental buildings. This was a new initiative in British academic planning at that time."
The building also contains seminar rooms and exhibition spaces. It overlooks a green space in the centre of what was the UMIST Campus which was originally a bowling green. For this reason a bar in the Renold Building was named the Bowling Green Tavern. The building no longer has a bar, but instead has a cafe named Enigma.[2] Although the building has attracted some criticism, in January 2008 it narrowly missed out on being awarded listed status.[3]
In January 2021 The Guardian listed the Renold Building as one of Britain's Brutalist buildings most at risk of demolition and development. It was included in Brutal North: Post-War Modernist Architecture in the North of England, Simon Phipps's photographic study of Brutalist architecture.[4]
