May 23 2023

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service is holding a community engagement exercise, revealing emerging residential proposals for its Cowcaddens base.

Consolidation of services has freed up the site for possible build-to-rent and student accommodation with supporting retail, leisure and commercial uses when vacated.

2 hectares of brownfield land north of the city centre bounded by Maitland Street and Port Dundas Road are earmarked for the venture, which would see the existing fire station swept aside.

Intending to redensify the district following post-war slum clearance and motorway construction, early plans by Stantec (formerly Barton Willmore) seek planning in principle for a high-rise solution split between five buildings, including two towers of 22 storeys to face against the M8.

New pedestrian and cycle routes will be threaded between these blocks, reintroducing a formal streetscape to the area in concert with plans for nearby Buchanan House and Port Dundas Road.

Subject to a successful application the site will be sold for development in 2024.

5 Comments

#1 Posted by gt78 on 23 May 2023 at 12:09 PM

Another area of the city with a few things seemingly in the pipeline. Would be ideal if this and the Buchanan house/ other btr developments opposite managed to compliment each other. Certainly feels like an underdeveloped area at the moment. Dont think there's any harm in a bit of height round this area too given its surrounded by Cowcaddens and Townhead towers to the west and east , and motorway to the north

#2 Posted by EM0 on 23 May 2023 at 13:36 PM

Coming off the motorway from Edinburgh here is extremely ugly. I would like to see massive greening in the area and possibly a reinstatement of Phoenix Park to make arriving at Glasgow much more aspirational than it currently is!!

#3 Posted by Dan on 23 May 2023 at 22:07 PM

No doubt be rejected on the basis that the buildings are too high. Can't have Glasgow being like literally every other thriving UK city.

#4 Posted by Roddy_ on 25 May 2023 at 01:29 AM

This is an excellent example of why we need coded masterplans for our new emerging neighbourhoods (e.g. here and in Tradeston). Cowcaddens has seen a number of projects being brought forward - essentially resi tower blocks around a podiums and courtyards. Look at the ground floor plans though in each and you'll see the large swaths of non active elevation where services/hvac/ storage/ back of house/ circulation has been located. One is bad enough, but now that we're seeing a number of proposals come forward and the cumulative effect will be a disaster if we want vibrant and human-scaled streets.We need proper coded masterplans aligned to the (now adopted) DRF.

#5 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 25 May 2023 at 12:20 PM

The repair of Glesga -- one village at a time.

New pedestrian routes -- does that mean lanes with all the issues that they bring?

Public access vs security and defensible space -- could get messy / pun intended.

The move to residential use has to be applauded but density and lack of green space is starting to become a problem.

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