How does human brain structure mature during adolescence? We used MRI to measure cortical thickness and intra-cortical myelination in 297 population volunteers aged 14-24 years. We found, and replicated, that association cortical areas were thicker and less myelinated than primary cortical areas at 14 years. However, association cortex had faster rates of shrinkage and myelination over the course of adolescence. Age-related increases in cortical myelination were maximised approximately at the internal layer of projection neurons. Adolescent cortical myelination and shrinkage were coupled and specifically associated with a dorso-ventrally patterned gene expression profile enriched for synaptic, oligodendroglial and schizophreniarelated genes. Topologically efficient and biologically expensive hubs of the brain anatomical network had greater rates of shrinkage/myelination, and were associated with over-expression of the same transcriptional profile as cortical consolidation. We conclude that normative human brain maturation involves a genetically patterned process of consolidating anatomical network hubs. We argue that developmental variation of this consolidation process may be relevant both to normal cognitive and behavioural changes, and to the high incidence of schizophrenia, during human brain adolescence.