Twin towers to stand tall over Blythswood Hill
March 7 2017
To be delivered in tandem with a 500 home Edinburgh build Holland Park will take the place of Strathclyde Police’s former HQ on Pitt Street/Holland Street and is intended to act as a bridge between the city’s office core and Sauchiehall Street - by breathing life to a forgotten corner of city real estate.
This will be achieved by fashioning a publicly accessible central courtyard sandwiched between two towers, carving a diagonal through route between the NE and SW corners. Overseen by Haus Architects and Oobe Landscape Architects the twin tower scheme faces east and west and is interlinked by lower rise connecting structures to the north and south - with a rooftop residents eyrie offering 360 degree views.
Outlining their emerging design concept Moda state: “A shared publicly accessible courtyard is carved from the central space in reference to the traditional and established back courts of Glasgow. The volume of mass is considered from a common ground floor datum to allow for the development of level transitions that address street frontage and permeability while creating active frontages.”
Tree planting and shared surfaces will see Holland Street reduced in girth, fashioning a more generous pedestrian environment in the expectation of the pending regeneration of the former High School. Significant level differences meanwhile will be taken advantage of through introduction of terraced steps and seating.
A planning application is expected by June enabling a potential start on-site to be made in march 2018. A targeted completion date is currently penciled in for March 2021.
15 Comments
#1 Posted by 1 on 7 Mar 2017 at 17:07 PM
Where and when is the consultation?
#2 Posted by ur on 7 Mar 2017 at 17:10 PM
A drop-in public consultation event for Moda’s own Glasgow project will be held at 200 St Vincent Street on 7 & 8 March between 15:00 and 20:00.
#3 Posted by Graham on 8 Mar 2017 at 11:33 AM
hope they considered the foundations at the Pitt street development especially the piles the Novotel/Ibis next door had to be sleeved with all foundations acoustically separated using elastomeric bearings due to the charing X tunnel running up West Regent Street
#4 Posted by MoFlo on 8 Mar 2017 at 17:01 PM
I think I prefer the old police offices to this - I fear the city is being taken over by featureless glass cuboids. On the plus side it should be a bit of a boost for sauchiehall street.
#5 Posted by Billy on 9 Mar 2017 at 09:58 AM
Like the use of space and the integration of green space. No mention of how high the towers will be but should be an interesting addition to the city skyline. More residents in this part of town may help the Sauchiehall st economy.
#6 Posted by David on 9 Mar 2017 at 13:13 PM
I too prefer the existing - the elevation to the High School is port and there is a weak corner to the Holland Street corner.
However as one of the architects who worked on the original police HQ extension in the early 1980's I may be biased.
However as one of the architects who worked on the original police HQ extension in the early 1980's I may be biased.
#7 Posted by Chris on 9 Mar 2017 at 14:34 PM
Sorry but the police station is not of any value.
The front is a utilitarian block from the 50s and the rear facade is forbidding and presents a dead frontage to the surrounding streets.
The new development provides public space and street interaction, which should encourage further regeneration in a forgotten corner of town.
The front is a utilitarian block from the 50s and the rear facade is forbidding and presents a dead frontage to the surrounding streets.
The new development provides public space and street interaction, which should encourage further regeneration in a forgotten corner of town.
#8 Posted by Peter on 9 Mar 2017 at 15:16 PM
We can assume 20+ floors if the comparison to the adjacent buildings is accurate. Such heights wouldn't be out of character for that end of the city centre; the company appears to be producing far taller buildings for cities in England (as appears to be the wider trend). And yes, the police HQ isn't subject to any statutory protection, so can therefore be assumed to be of little architectural value.
#9 Posted by Fraser on 9 Mar 2017 at 16:33 PM
As explained yesterday at the consultation; east tower approx 18 storeys, west tower approx 24. A very welcome addition is my eyes.
#10 Posted by Jamie on 9 Mar 2017 at 20:42 PM
How tall is it? It seems almost 25 stories and I think that's fine. It's on the lower part of the rise so it will leasen the impact on the skyline and appear no taller than the pinnacle.
#11 Posted by George on 10 Mar 2017 at 08:44 AM
As long as it is of a decent quality then I think the height is great, bring it on! The city centre needs taller buildings and I was always disappointed that the skyscraper planned for where the Scottish Power building now is, didn't go ahead.
#12 Posted by Terra on 11 Mar 2017 at 00:32 AM
Like the look of this! :) the start of more talls?
#13 Posted by Billy on 11 Mar 2017 at 03:33 AM
Let's hope this goes ahead unlike the Elphinstone tower or the Trinity projects. Both these projects had the WOW factor and would have been welcome additions to the skyline especially at the gate to the city centre from the airport via Charing Cross. I think buildings project a perception of the city and and the occupiers of the buildings. Sadly the exciting projects gave way to a yawn of a building. We were being offered a mini Manhattan at that end of Blythswood and got Lilliput. Other cities across the UK have no problems with height. Major projects all over the UK are building higher than 25 storeys. Why does Glasgow tremble at the thought? Glasgow did not in the 60s. Skylines project confidence. Other cities are racing ahead with ambitious projects . We on the other hand have a mish mash of low rise projects best suited to out of town industrial estates.
#14 Posted by Paul N on 13 Mar 2017 at 10:32 AM
Billy it is called ground inflation, the absolute carnage of the late 20th century on the urban fabric led to massive amounts of gap sites and brownfield, thus land in the city centre is very cheap meaning the developers do not have to build tall to get a sufficient return, watch as the gaps sites start to become less prevalent over the next 20 years how land inflation will give rise to taller buildings, in the 60 tall was about prestige and urban renewal in the 21sr century it is simply down to land economics
#15 Posted by Peter on 13 Mar 2017 at 18:31 PM
Paul, if I can respond on behalf of Billy, I'd like to point out that a similar development by the same company in Liverpool rises to 34 storeys. Its Manchester effort, 35 storeys. A quick scan on google maps reveals swathes of vacant land in those cities to match conditions in Glasgow. I think there remains an element of prestige in these sorts of developments. Why is there an impetus in Glasgow to impose building footprint on every square metre of available land, as has been the case with the Scottish Power HQ? Surely an elegant tall tower would have been more prestigious for such a major company? Look at the HQ of its parent company, Iberdrola! Of course this all leads to accusations of cock waving etc., but that’s the era in which we live. Glasgow has every right to a ‘prestige’ tower and building one (or more) would cement/restore its image as a major city.
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