January 29 2024

Holmes Miller has shared plans for a new front-of-house block and facilities building to serve the planned HMP Glasgow in Provanmill.

Standing in the shadow of two prominent gasholders at Provan the new jail will comprise several individual smaller buildings rather than one outsize block with its civic frontage doubling as a community cafe on Royston Road.

Designed to establish a public presence in front of a new entrance plaza, the two-tone brick building will be accented by precast concrete cladding panels. It will be joined by a separate facilities building that will be bisected by a linear street and incorporate interior courtyards to break up the deep plan.

In a design statement, the architects wrote: "The Front of House building, given it’s direct association with Royston Road, and it’s function as a community facility, requires a high quality, civic presence, with an open and welcoming appearance. The two storey façade directly facing the entrance plaza allows a balance between appropriate scale and impact, a sensitive human scale."

The bulk of the site will be reserved for an array of five cross-plan prefabricated modular house blocks in precast concrete which will fan out around the shared facilities.

The architects added: "The prominence of the house blocks from the transient viewpoints on the M8 motorway are of particular importance. The approach to materials and colour refers directly to the character and materiality of traditional and contemporary urban housing, such as tenements and mid rise apartments."

A bridge link will connect public and secure areas of the facility.  

7 Comments

#1 Posted by Whispering Andy on 29 Jan 2024 at 13:12 PM

Whisper it.......but I am unlikely to take the family for a day out to the local Jail's Community Cafe. I think that money could be spent better elsewhere.

#2 Posted by Auntie Nairn on 29 Jan 2024 at 15:29 PM

HMP, school, hospital, this creative vacuum manages to make them all look the same - yawn!

#3 Posted by MegaVox on 29 Jan 2024 at 16:14 PM

looks like your typical Holmes Muller School
i wonder is SPS know that they have just copied and pasted one of their bland schools

#4 Posted by shouty babs on 29 Jan 2024 at 16:44 PM

#1 guessing this is for people who live locally and prison visitors rather than architects in search of a cheese toastie for their kids and some Saturday afternoon instagram content

#5 Posted by D to the R on 30 Jan 2024 at 13:50 PM

Babs ... pretty sure even those living locally won't be visiting the prison for a mocca-choca-latte .. unless it's with their pitch forks

#6 Posted by GlasgowSmilesBetter on 30 Jan 2024 at 13:54 PM

The people of Provanmill certainly seem to have enhanced their dress code ...

#7 Posted by Monthebears on 3 Feb 2024 at 07:52 AM

#6 Not a sellik tap in sight !

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