August 17 2022

A prominent Glasgow office block is in line for a £3m refurbishment designed to improve street level interaction at a traffic choked intersection.

300 Bath Street is being overhauled by London & Scottish Property Management (LSPIM) with Michael Laird Architects as part of a rebranding exercise to draw new tenants, including Fairhurst.

Elliot Cumming, senior asset manager at LSPIM, said: “300 Bath Street is one of Glasgow’s best-known landmarks, stretching across the M8 and linking the West End to the City Centre. It’s a very recognisable and unique building, which we will be breathing new life into.

“Our transformation will be more than simply changing the name. We will be improving its specification to meet today`s occupier requirements, including a new feature entrance, and expansive wellbeing amenity, including cycle storage, new showers and a drying room."

A new entrance canopy in matte black metal and champagne-coloured cladding will be carved out of the Bath Street elevation, with infill glazing to match the current facade.

The refurbishment programme will conclude early next year.

9 Comments

#1 Posted by James Hepburn on 17 Aug 2022 at 12:50 PM

Its symptomatic of the post war decline in architecture in Glasgow. Just dreadful to look at.

#2 Posted by Say it on 17 Aug 2022 at 14:45 PM

I do not think this building needs refurbished...I think it needs knocked down....

#3 Posted by Jimbob Tanktop on 17 Aug 2022 at 15:24 PM

So ugly it could only have been conceived as a scammer's afterthought. And it was.

#4 Posted by GCC2 on 18 Aug 2022 at 09:18 AM

#2: The only hope is 'accidental' fire during renovation. Quite popular in the area.

#5 Posted by SneckieMun on 18 Aug 2022 at 13:20 PM

#2 This will be listed one day. Particularly the bridging element. A fantastic example of the (failed) utopian, metropolis dream of Glasgow in the mid-century.

#6 Posted by Spilt Milk on 18 Aug 2022 at 20:31 PM

Yes, the original 'bridge to nowhere' was quite Glasgow's Brandenburg Gate as a small part of Seifert's vision from Charing Cross down to Anderston of which very little archaeology if any remains now and as such really merits listing even if solely as a cautionary tale. Incidentally, the trapezoidal tapered fin columns are geometrically quite something esp. as they are pre-computer.
As to Tay House? I will not name names but the European historical context in which this was designed ie 1984, clearly had not impacted on the vacuum of the visually conservative offices and ethos of Park Circus at the time. Even the dreadful aberration that was Pomo was just kicking off then. So in hindsight, ignoring the cultural vandalism of the salmon pink, I do think it's maybe a tad harsh to put the boot totally into this offering. I am sure the author meant well but it just wasn't to be.

#7 Posted by Billy on 19 Aug 2022 at 00:11 AM

This is one ugly building. And that Bridge over the motorway? Pull it all down and start again. Beautiful listed buildings get neglected and demolished and this eyesore remains. Looked dated from day one. And that horrible colour.

#8 Posted by juan de los angeles on 22 Aug 2022 at 14:32 PM

Echo Billy's sentiments. It's dreadful. And as for the overhaul, it's just lipstick on a pig. Let's not list buildings, or celebrate as 'cautionary tales'; let's learn from our experience and build on our successes, not failures (however utopian in vision).

#9 Posted by No use crying over spilt milk, but on 23 Aug 2022 at 11:26 AM

For the sake of at least some discussion:
#7 'pull it all down and start again' - no doubt that's precisely what Richard Seifert said in the 60s. How'd that work out? What about responsible sustainability? After all there is a workable structure there.
#8 'lipstick on a pig' - probably true and it will be a missed opportunity, still if the owner wants a shiny building then...
By the way, there was an interesting piece by Oliver Wainwright on 16th August in the graun. 'Demolition is violence' where all reworked buildings illustrated were visually so much richer than anything new. Interesting -.take a looksee as an alternative to an all or nothing approach.

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