June 5 2024

A long-awaited overhaul of Glasgow's George Square is set to get underway in earnest with the publication of a construction tender expected this August.

Glasgow City Council is pressing ahead with measures to create a greener, more sustainable and accessible square in January next year by sealing off the space to allow the relocation of 11 A-listed bronze statues for renovation - ahead of formal construction work in April.

Design proposals by John McAslan & Partners are still under development with the team currently focussed on the lighting element of the proposal. This will see projectors installed to throw dynamic images onto the square and facade of the City Chambers, complemented by newly installed lighting columns, 'pealights' and suspended illuminations.

George Gillespie, executive director of neighbourhoods, regeneration and sustainability at Glasgow City Council, said: “The confirmation of the timetable of works for the George Square project is clearly a significant stage in what will be a transformational scheme for Glasgow’s foremost civic space.  A great deal of consultation led to the final design for the Square and reflects the ambition to build a space that respects the place the Square holds in our history and meets the future needs of the city and its visitors."

The redesign of George Square and its immediate vicinity of West George Street and St Vincent Place is expected to complete in August 2026. 

23 Comments

#1 Posted by Dave on 5 Jun 2024 at 10:09 AM

So after over a decade of political wrangling, thousands of hours of wasted and largely unpaid architects and consultants time, and god knows how many different designs - THIS is what they come up with. Talk about wasted opportunity.

#2 Posted by Ben on 5 Jun 2024 at 10:46 AM

Despite all of the years wasted, failed competitions and the very long drawn out process, I think the wait will be worth it....these are by far the best proposals that have ever been put forward for George Square.
Scotland's premier urban square will also be its most beautiful one by 2027.

#3 Posted by BetterLateThanNever on 5 Jun 2024 at 10:58 AM

THIS is far superior to any previous proposals ever were. Neat, simple, elegant - exactly what the square needs and, I'm pretty sure, what the vast majority of people wanted all along.

Still not sold on the weird patch of grass in front of the cenotaph, but other than that...

#4 Posted by Mark on 5 Jun 2024 at 11:02 AM

Would this not be a good opportunity to review which statues are worthy of a place in the square? A lot of them are of fairly obscure Victorian gentlemen. How about moving the Rennie McIntosh one in Anderston for starters ?

#5 Posted by James Hepburn on 5 Jun 2024 at 12:25 PM

The whole issue just highlights Glasgow City Council's ineptitude.

#6 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 5 Jun 2024 at 13:26 PM

Beyond absurdity -- sealing off the square to improve accessibility ...

For 20 months plus the inevitable delays -- someone is having a giraffe at our expense.

Three months to move a few statues -- are all our bronze statues A listed or just the ones in George Square.

Statues -- Never wizzers / has-beens / attention seekers / the forgotten many.

Take your pick.

#7 Posted by George on 5 Jun 2024 at 14:19 PM

Should complete in time for Susan Aitken and the rest of the inept SNP/Green Council to be put out to grass, hopefully there is enough of the green stuff for the whole lot of them.

#8 Posted by Gideon on 5 Jun 2024 at 15:05 PM

How long before half the statues are thrown in the Clyde by the woke mob for being slave owners/pro-Zion/colonialists/whatever-the-trendy-thing-to-hate-of-the-day is

#9 Posted by Georwell84 on 5 Jun 2024 at 16:37 PM

If GCC cant do a semi professional job in a timely manner without any woke politics maybe the money would be best spent elsewhere.

#10 Posted by Roddy_ on 5 Jun 2024 at 17:16 PM

@ #7
This has to be a spoof post. It must.
If not, then clearly George is oblivious to history of the original competition. I will not insult the intelligence of the readers here by explaining. Perhaps George should do a bit of Googling.

@# 8 Gideon, presumably you wouldn't object to some form of interpretation and exposition of the slave owners / beneficiaries represented in the square. As the Second City of Empire, we ought to be having discussions about slavery, about the Boer concentration camps, about the Jallianwala Bagh massacre, the massacre of the Mau Mau, the burning of the City of Cork - the list is endless. Suggest Gideon do some Googling too.

#11 Posted by Nairn's Bairn on 5 Jun 2024 at 19:55 PM

This layout seems to cover the one essential item - retaining sufficient grass for people to sit on the summer and eat their Greggs sausage roll. All is well.

#12 Posted by Solomons Seed on 6 Jun 2024 at 02:50 AM

Just a sacrilegious thought: reduce and relocate Sir Walter Scott's column from it's central location, and relocate Cenotaph from centreline of City Cambers main elevation - create a real public space in middle of square with clear vistas !!

#13 Posted by George on 6 Jun 2024 at 16:09 PM

#10
Certainly not a spoof post, just the thoughts of thousands who are witnessing a declining Glasgow. Not saying the current administration is fully responsible for the George Square debacle but together with the Scottish Govt they certainly are responsible for the mess Glasgow is in, dirty, full of litter and graffiti, streets like ghost towns (part due to most public sector workers WFH) Glasgow airport a shadow of itself, I could go on and on.
Noticed that they have just cancelled the Windmillcroft Quay repairs, we cant even maintain a pathway beside the River Clyde, what have we come to!

#14 Posted by Gideon on 6 Jun 2024 at 16:34 PM

@#10 Roddy - you are right dour aren't you! A lot of people are fed up of this ridiculous trend of self flagellation over things our forbears did. They may have been perfectly normal at the time, and they would by far have been the only ones that engaged in it. Thats not to say it was right, and we are rightly so critical of it from our comfortable 21st C viewpoint. However it seems that we are stuck in a pity of self loathing rather than being proud of what we HAVE achieved (which is a lot by the way, despite what the wokists would have you believe). We should not be ashamed to be Scottish/British/Eurpoean etc. and we shouldn't be doing is telling ourselves and the generations to come to be ashamed of ourselves!

#15 Posted by alibi on 8 Jun 2024 at 16:13 PM

Hope they get the paving right. Something we seem to get consistently wrong in this country - that nasty speckled effect achieved by having starkly contrasting paving colours seems to be everywhere.

#16 Posted by Glasgow bob on 8 Jun 2024 at 17:07 PM

#13 please explain why the problem is public sector workers WFH and please don't do 'if I have to explain it...'
Most offices are lights out on Mondays and Fridays due to private sector workers WFH so it's biggest than a few public sector workers. I'm sure you'd be the first to complain if the poorly paid public sector were forced into the office by their bosses. Are you Jacob Rees-Mogg?
Airport a shadow of itself? Isn't that the airport operators fault and if they wanted to maximise their profit they would?
I prefer the council to provide meals to old folk and support homeless services rather than rebuilding a quay wall (peel ports anyone?) so the grasping landlords can market their city centre flats with a river side space.

#17 Posted by Mark II on 9 Jun 2024 at 16:07 PM

As ever, some of the comments here are toppers. I hope #4 and #6 aren't suggesting that James Watt and Walter Scott are nobodies who aren't worth commemorating? If so, the commenters are the ones who should be chucked in the Clyde, not the statues.

Surely Glasgow is big enough, and the Glaswegians are big enough as humans, to hang onto a few historic monuments - then perhaps add a few more murals, statues, hoardings and sculptures to commemorate modern folk too?

Lobey Dosser on Woodlands Road is a great example of popular culture ending up as public art, which makes passers-by smile and says something unique about the city.

#18 Posted by Gideon on 10 Jun 2024 at 11:14 AM

@#17 - careful, Scott and Watt are white, male and British so by that very standard alone they are ripe for being cancelled. They probably owned non-binary slaves as well at some point

#19 Posted by Whispering Andy on 10 Jun 2024 at 13:07 PM

Whisper it...... but it looks like Tommeh Robinson and the 'carnt seh nuffink these days' brigade have entered the arena.

#20 Posted by Gideon on 10 Jun 2024 at 13:40 PM

...swiftly followed by the woke anti-British mob. Youve just reinforced my point. Guess you'll be down the 'square later with a chain ready to drag off the statues to the Clyde

#21 Posted by George on 10 Jun 2024 at 15:00 PM

#16 - No I am not Jacob Rees Mog thanks, I'm a born and bred Glaswegian and I am comparing the Glasgow of 10 years ago when I used to show my in-laws around and proudly proclaim that we were the second best shopping destination in the UK, to the mess it is now. And I say that a portion of that decline is firmly the responsibility of the current SNP/Green council administration.
Yes sure, a council should provide homeless services, but they have many services they should provide and I dont see that a city centre footpath beside our river should be some kind of Utopian dream.
As for WFH, Glasgow has the highest rates in UK for those who havent returned to the office, and also has the highest percentage of public sector jobs of any city in UK so we are disproportionatly affected. Just saying that if GCC were pushed to even work 3 days in the office it would greatly help city centre activity/economy.
However I guess this is maybe all too basic or sounds like capitalism to you, so just you go back to being Patrick Harvie or whoever you are and dream of that anti-business economy where somehow money magicly grows on trees...

#22 Posted by devilish advocaat on 10 Jun 2024 at 15:31 PM

So we all like the trees then, yes?

#23 Posted by Dave on 10 Jun 2024 at 17:23 PM

@#22 No they are slave owning trees. Cut them down. No trees.

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