June 15 2022

AS Homes (on behalf of Southside Housing Association) and Keppie Design have broached plans to deliver 55 apartments on the site of the 1920s Queen's Garage at 640 Pollokshaws Road following an earlier consultation.

A gushet block of up to seven storeys is proposed to 'complete the block' by stepping the building line down from the feature corner to reveal a B-listed Mission Hall on Nithsdale Drive.

The positioning of a central access core will necessitate single-aspect flats to the mid-section of the development with Keppie writing: "Service accommodation is situated on the ground floor, in place of the single aspect flats, reducing the number of single aspect flats and minimising the number of flats on the busy street edge.

"The lack of windows to these spaces provides the opportunity to create decorative brickwork panels, replicating a shop front window."

Comprising red multi brick, red-tinted concrete and gold-coloured window frames the build wraps around a green internal courtyard housing a communal drying area and playpark.  

The plans follow proposals to plug another gap at 134 Nithsdale Drive with a further 106 homes led by Page\Park Architects.

22 Comments

#1 Posted by David on 15 Jun 2022 at 13:33 PM

Looks great, a bit boxy towards the B Listed mission hall, but the brickwork looks fantastic. A welcome addition to this part of south Glasgow, the inner city is really starting to densify!

#2 Posted by Sammy Dow's on 15 Jun 2022 at 13:40 PM

Ah dunno. You get handed a once-in-a-lifetime site on a plate and this is what you get? New York? Its a bit on the brutal side to say the least. Where's the douceness of the sooside in this? Genius loci n'aw that.

#3 Posted by Spike on 15 Jun 2022 at 16:51 PM

Agree with the first comment , looks great and I hope it gets built

#4 Posted by Sammy Dow's on 15 Jun 2022 at 17:17 PM

The oblique perspective views shown flatter the design.
If you look at the planning submission drawings and manage to be of the same opinion then all I can say is I'm well out of it and goodnight, Irene.

#5 Posted by Keppie Katastrophy! on 15 Jun 2022 at 17:23 PM

Oh my god! Imagine letting Keppie loose on this site.

It's big and bowfing. What's with all the recessed brick panels?
How about the squashed ground floor level- looks so mean.
Flats at ground level in this location...Really?!

Come on, seriously, this is 7 storeys of complete trash.

#6 Posted by Roddy_ on 15 Jun 2022 at 19:15 PM

The modulation of the block at the apex of the corner is extremely poor and the scale of the thing jars when read against the backdrop of traditional tenement stock with their generous floor to ceiling heights.

It has that look of a young offenders institute with the really mean window to wall proportions as well as the Juliet balconies that look like barred windows.

Looks like a scheme with a load of development still to do rather than ready for a planning submission.
City Design need to look at this. Not good enough.

#7 Posted by Peter Sosoon on 15 Jun 2022 at 20:48 PM

Can't help but echo the sentiments of the critiques above.

Stick to the hospitals Keppie.

#8 Posted by TheFakeArchitect on 16 Jun 2022 at 09:51 AM

Are we now so scared of creating a pastiche development that we simply resort to brutal square brick architecture at every turn? Where are the bay windows, vertical window proportions and decorative stone bands that acknowledge the surrounding buildings? & is it too much to get a bit of finesse on that top corner feature..
Its nothing more than a really poor, value engineered Flatiron Building.

#9 Posted by Sue Pearman on 16 Jun 2022 at 10:30 AM

I think something along these lines could work but it needs massive refinement ... the windows need to be designed in a way that doesn't make it look like a Rossi building, possible a hierarchy or merging them over floors. The top 2 or 3 floor should be separated somewhat from the tenement street datum - or removed altogether. I'm not sure the step back and down at the church works - maybe just keep it higher and pull it away a bit.

#10 Posted by pooka on 16 Jun 2022 at 10:40 AM

no parking - people with machetes will be fighting in the streets over the last of the on street spaces

#11 Posted by James Hepburn on 16 Jun 2022 at 10:52 AM

Why do all new apartment developments look the same. Unimaginative. Its official. Glasgow architects have not talent.

#12 Posted by Peter on 16 Jun 2022 at 11:13 AM

#5 - Point taken. Who wouldn't kill for a ground level flat at this poor man's New York caricature slab? Singles from £249k, I suppose... As mentioned and lamented above - everything literally looks the same now in Glasgow, what a waste.

#13 Posted by Andrew on 16 Jun 2022 at 12:07 PM

reminds me of the eyesore not far from the Kelvingrove (buff brickwork) which looks bad due to progressive staining of the brickwork with so much facetting......attention to detailing will be vital

#14 Posted by Ilias Hisset on 16 Jun 2022 at 15:05 PM

You're on a charge, Keppie! *dons leather glove

He used to give me roses, I wish he would again...

#15 Posted by modernish on 16 Jun 2022 at 15:56 PM

That ground floor corner flat must be right up there on the truly grim places to live chart

#16 Posted by David on 16 Jun 2022 at 18:47 PM

#15 in Strathbungo? I can think of worse places.

#17 Posted by modernish on 17 Jun 2022 at 09:45 AM

@16 - North facing, on a very busy bus route and traffic junction. In all my years walking and cycling along Pollokshaws road i've never once thought 'oh, this is pleasant'. Short of the odd half marathon morning i've never seen the road not nose to tail with cars, especially at those traffic lights. I've you've ever lived near a bus-stop or traffic lights on a bus route you'll be all to aware of the rumble of stopping and starting buses. I've also never seen a ground floor flat on that stretch that hasn't had net curtains permanently closed. So, yes, a grim place to live. Living in a vibrant area is little consolation if your home doesn't provide respite or peace and quiet.
PS - this is only Strathbungo in estate agent talk.

#18 Posted by strathbunglost on 17 Jun 2022 at 09:53 AM

where does Strathbungo start and stop??

#19 Posted by jeremy jones on 17 Jun 2022 at 10:09 AM

This section of Pollokshaws Road is a retail street. Why on earth is there no retail in the proposal?
Whoever thinks idea of ground floor residential property here will be pleasant, directly onto the street with no defensible space, needs their head examined.

#20 Posted by Emlyn on 17 Jun 2022 at 10:44 AM

This seems a bit boxy and monolithic to me but if the brick is high quality I can live with it. I agree with most commenters above about the ground floor, north facing on a busy road really is not a good place for flats. Also, the services being on the main roads is not ideal when it really needs to have an active street frontage, especially in a location with a dire lack of active frontage(to the north along pollokshaws road). The density easily justifies ground floor retail units in this location. Why not have a roof garden for residents rather than a shady back court and ground floor retail with plant and services facing to the rear.

#21 Posted by Ben on 17 Jun 2022 at 10:51 AM

I don't think anyone thinks that this will be the most pleasant set up, but I don't think that "grim" is the right word either. Many tenants on the waiting list for a housing association home would be thrilled to be given this neighbourhood as an option. Which incidentally I think is actually Strathbungo - the Strathbungo Parish Church building (now flats) is across the street.
But agree with other comments above, some retail would have been a better use of the ground floor. Apart from that, I think this would be a great proposal with some tweaks, larger windows for one.

#22 Posted by Nairn's Bairn on 17 Jun 2022 at 12:22 PM

Drop a few storeys it so it looks like it belongs there, and get it built.

Post your comments