May 23 2024

A vacant office building in Cowcaddens, last refurbished and extended by Bradford Robertson Architects in 2006, is to undergo a further metamorphosis at the hands of GD Lodge.

Originally built in the 1960s the Swan Street office block has been hit by a slump in tenant demand which has seen it sit empty for over two years, prompting the building owners to propose a change in use to student accommodation.

Planned works will see black aluminium rain screen stripped from the three-storey steel frame structure and a two-storey extension bolted on to provide 105 student studio rooms.

Upping floor space from 21 to 35k sq/ft the works will reuse as much of the existing fabric as possible with red-facing brick employed as a nod to a boarded-up Baptist Mission Church, one of the only surviving unlisted older buildings in the area.

Summarising their plans the architects wrote: "It is proposed that the existing building structure will be partially retained. The building will be stripped back to the frame and, subject to further structural analysis floors may also be retained and reconfigured as required in response to the necessary introduction of lifts and stairs."

The reimagined accommodation will be defined by a curved corner profile, an original feature lost to later over-cladding. 

Post your comments