Duke Street Housing

This new build development is located on Duke Street and High Street in Glasgow on a brownfield site surrounded by a mix of shops, tenements and historic buildings.

The site stretches up over a steep slope from the thoroughfare of Duke Street to the ancient High Street. This presented a major architectural and building challenge - particularly for an organisation determined to build accessible and affordable homes.
There are 46 new two or three bedroom flats, built in two blocks and one commercial unit. The development marked a significant milestone for Glasgow Housing Association – the social landlord behind the development - as it included GHA’s 1000th new build home.

The GHA team worked closely with the architects Anderson Bell Christie and Cruden, the builders to come up with a solution for constructing homes on the steeply sloping land. A strategy was adopted to build only on the street frontages, with a pend created on the High Street to provide level access to the building. The central area between the two buildings was retained as a landscaped green space for residents and this private garden in the centre of the development now provides an oasis of security and privacy, right in the city centre.

The site lies in the shadow of Glasgow Cathedral in the city’s historic core and the city’s planners insisted that every detail should be sensitive to the character and heritage of the area. The apartments have been developed to balance the benefits of a city-centre location with very high standards of amenity for tenants. The flats are spacious, bright and well-appointed, and all of them have direct access to a private outdoor green space which links the development to the popular Drygate estate next door.
The flats on High Street enjoy an open outlook to the south and views of the historic Cathedral precincts to the north. The Duke Street block has generous windows to living areas and access via a pedestrian bridge to the green space to the rear.