October 13 2024

Glasgow City Council has revealed its timetable for what has been billed as the biggest change to the city centre streetscape since the pedestrianisation of Buchanan Street in the seventies.

Pinpointing the streets and places due for a makeover between now and 2028 the council highlights 14 Avenues from Argyle Street to the Broomielaw and George Square which are each awaiting their turn to benefit from enhanced kerb appeal at the hands of lead designer Ironside Farrar.

Pedestrians will already be familiar with the disruption along Sauchiehall Street as the current phase of routes nears completion but rather than ease up an acceleration of delivery is planned for the next tranche of regenerated roads.

Councillor Angus Millar commented: “Our city centre has undoubtedly been impacted in recent years by multiple and overlapping challenges, from the legacy of the pandemic, fires, and absentee property owners to the shift to online retail and cost-of-living and inflation crises.

“But it’s increasingly a focal point for major investment, for population growth and we have a responsibility to nurture that and create the cosmopolitan feel Glasgow deserves.

“We know from our own past that when we make these changes, Glasgow has flourished.  The pedestrianisation of Buchanan Street in the 1970s was the catalyst for it becoming one of the most successful streets on these islands.  But it also signalled the transformation of Glasgow away from its post-industrial past. “We’re experiencing a similar period of transition just now and the Avenues can be the foundations for a city centre which gives people more reasons to visit, to invest in Glasgow and to make the city centre their home.”

Construction work on the next wave of Avenues additions will get underway in 2025 with the closure of George Square to allow surrounding streets to be upgraded ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games. Attention will then turn to the High Street and Broomielaw in 2027 before George Street receives its new look in 2028.

7 Comments

#1 Posted by EM0 on 14 Oct 2024 at 10:47 AM

I have continually emailed the avenues email and have had every email ignored for over a year.

Simply asking small questions. I went to their drop-in and the lack of information on avenues other than the one or two featured on the wall was staggering.

Then the terrible contracting by MacLay civil engineering..... it is all a bit of a shambles sadly and the design utterly lacklustre with other project of this kind throughout the UK. You only need to look at the state of the top end of Sauchiehall St already to know that this project is not thought through properly or with any real aspiration!

#2 Posted by Ben on 14 Oct 2024 at 14:07 PM

I actually disagree entirely with #1, I think this scheme is one of the most ambitious of its kind in the UK and something that other towns and cities up and down the country would do well to emulate.
I think it has become something of a culture war issue, with many simply hating the project due to the removal of parking bays and/or vehicular lanes from many roads.
Ultimately it is going to massively improve the pedestrian and cyclist experience of Glasgow city-wide, greatly improve the quality of the public realm, and encourage further private investment. George Square will retake its rightful place as the principle civic square in Scotland once the redesign is complete, and provide a real boost to the city centre.

#3 Posted by EM0 on 14 Oct 2024 at 14:49 PM

Number 2 please know I am not against it, just think it is a missed opportunity for something that could transform the city so hugely.

I watched the same project be done in Romania, they had tress, but also large stone planters that the benches were carved into. Created replicas of the heritage lampposts and interspersed these through the trees. The tree fences matched these lampposts and the whole thing had a cohesive charm to it. There is nothing cohesive about this. The number of trees is constantly getting reduced and the wooden benches are already covered in black mould in the completed section.

Initial discussions for avenues discussed bringing disused dismantled Victorian fountains back into the streets to even be planted into as opposed to necessarily having water again and many more ambitious and detailed plans. Reproduction victorian lighting, fun seating areas like swings put into streets. What we see now just doesn't have the aspiration it started with sadly.

#4 Posted by Juanjo on 14 Oct 2024 at 17:08 PM

Will look lovely if it's kept clean, but it won't be. See the new paving opposite the Dental Hospital - more chewing gum visible than paving. This scheme should be accompanied by a public education campaign on littering. That could be paid for by winding up and using the budget of the utterly useless Keep Scotland Beautiful. All of urban Scotland is a bin.

#5 Posted by L on 14 Oct 2024 at 18:17 PM

I agree with EM0, Romania is one of the best examples of urban regeneration I've seen in a while (Oradea, Timisoara, Alba Iulia are all cities which have reclaimed their city centres through similar projects and it's working incredibly well) but it's been successfully done throughout Europe (Barcelona also springs to mind, or even London).

The Avenues project is fantastic as an ideology, bringing the city streets back to the people who use them is immensely needed and providing spaces for people to stop and gather in the city centre is an urgency before everyone is driven away from it.

But the execution of it falls short of what it could be achieved with such an ambitious goal. Yes, wider pavements are great, cycling lanes are fantastic, but where are the spaces to gather? Where are the spaces where people will actually want to go and spend time and money in? We live in Scotland, why can't we find a way to provide covered shelter for people to be able to have a hot cup of tea outside with beautiful surroundings while they wait to go to the GFT for a movie? Where's the joy in designing spaces for people? Where's the soul that makes us as users go "I would like to spend 15 minutes here"? Where's the beauty meeting someone by the [insert here beautiful landmark rehabilitated with care]?

I'm not saying Glasgow should transform into Copenhagen or something, but there are so many examples throughout Europe where cities have been reclaimed through cohesive urban design with beautiful spaces which are meant TO BE ENJOYED, not just passed through.

#6 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 14 Oct 2024 at 22:05 PM

Expensive hobby horse nonsense -- scarce resources lavished on consultants and low productivity contractors to boost a few egos rather than generate economic growth.

Even spending half the money in half the time would have been a failure -- GCC should be able to look after and invest in our streets as part of their day job rather than wrap it all up in shallow PR techno babble.

Then there is the troubling inability of the council to actually look after anything that they build -- too posh to wash is only the half of it.

Plus the Transport 1400 angle where every bus on these streets will be a mobile chicane holding up traffic -- traffic that will increase as incomes rise in the city centre and the inner suburbs.

Finally -- more cover please / it rains plus it is windy / an outdoor focus needs rain shelters with our climate.

#7 Posted by Roddy_ on 15 Oct 2024 at 01:23 AM

This is all good news but one can't help but notice that the latest iterations of images seem to have fallen foul of value engineering with a lack of street trees or any kind of embedded artwork/interpretation/ interesting street furniture. Perhaps it is also the harsh aspect of the visualisations especially those at historic intersections like Glasgow Cross. They have a very provincial and generic look about them when they should have a reassuring solidity that goes with the gravitas of that kind of space. I'm thinking about the kind of stuff that Page/Park did at Cathedral Square or on the High Street in Edinburgh. Even McAslan's George Square seems to have lost something in the latter iterations - perhaps trying to be too many things to too many folk.
Another aspect is that we seem not to have learned the lessons of the pilot - Sauchiehal St - and those annoying trapezoidal kerbs that achieve little in separating cyclists from pedestrial and vice versa. See Byres Rd for details. It just disnae work.
I do hope that the network will eventually join up and they will be well used but I think there are legitimate concerns over the eventual quality.
PS we really ought to bring back Sandy Stoddard's proposal for Glasgow Cross - the giant neo-classical figures atop a giant neo-classical plinth. Now you're talking.

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