Glasgow hotel plans make way for more student accommodation
October 23 2012
Designed by Young & Gault the conversion will entail addition of a new rooftop level to accommodate 66 individual self-catering spaces alongside communal amenity areas.
Plans entail re-cladding the brick finished block with red/brown brick slip finish insulated cladding.
Located immediately adjacent to the Central Station approach the plot terminates the vista down Howard Street.
It supersedes prior proposals to transform the plot with a hi-rise hotel which have been stalled since 2008. The lower value end-use means this scheme may have a higher chance of being realised.
The existing office block has lain derelict for over four years
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17 Comments
#1 Posted by Neil C on 23 Oct 2012 at 15:17 PM
I honestly can't say this is an improvement on the existing eyesore. It shows the same wilful disregard for the window heights, construction materials and architectural styles of its neighbours, and it'll probably be built cheaply and nastily if it's aimed at students. The only benefit is it'll look less decrepit - for a few years at least.
#2 Posted by wonky on 23 Oct 2012 at 16:07 PM
This is just depressing. Are things really that bad that garbage like this is the only thing we can hope for? More negative student space that adds nothing to the city-scape. Depressing. Why do so many economically positive high-rise developments never reach completion in Glasgow? This one. Jumeirah and Elphinstone amongst many others- no doubt the 30 storey Savoy Centre Tower will go the same way.
Is there still a hidden resistance to high-rise buildings in Glasgow?
Is there still a hidden resistance to high-rise buildings in Glasgow?
#3 Posted by Art Vandelay on 23 Oct 2012 at 17:00 PM
So effectively, it's going to look EXACTLY the same as it does just now, only cleaner. What's that you say? Aluminium cladding? Jeezo, you're really spoiling us now.
OK, there's something to be said for re-appropriating a disused building. But to do it in such a bland, insipid and uninspired fashion (and in a fairly prominent location) is very disappointing.
OK, there's something to be said for re-appropriating a disused building. But to do it in such a bland, insipid and uninspired fashion (and in a fairly prominent location) is very disappointing.
#4 Posted by dezpot on 23 Oct 2012 at 18:30 PM
It's called the recession Wonky. It's been in the news and stuff.
#5 Posted by D to the R on 23 Oct 2012 at 22:28 PM
Leave the existing facade and bling' it up inside innit .... Save yourself the architects instructions man - students will lve in anything these day
#6 Posted by john mcglynn on 24 Oct 2012 at 09:22 AM
Re disregard for window heights of its neighbours - this is a reuse scheme. What are the architects supposed to do - pretend every third floor doesn't exist?
#7 Posted by Egbert on 24 Oct 2012 at 09:34 AM
Another misuse of the word 'derelict' by UR - it was in use only four years ago and from the outside at least can hardly be described as ruinous. This sort of language is insidious and frequently used by developers to justify the demolition of perfectly good structures - please don't add credence to their self-serving distortions.
#8 Posted by Ross on 24 Oct 2012 at 12:45 PM
Was this not the site of the proposed "Staybridge" development, which was thrown out of planning department for "not good enough for Glasgow?"
#9 Posted by Neil C on 24 Oct 2012 at 12:51 PM
#6 - I appreciate that this is a refurbishment not a new construction, and it'll never tie in with the sandstone building next door. However, a little imagination would have allowed the architecture to work far more effectively with the modern hotel next door. They could have enlarged the windows to the same size as the Jury's Inn, raising their heights in lower storeys but lowering them in upper storeys, so the casements align with those on every floor of the hotel. Such techniques are not beyond the wit of man, and they'd make the building far more sympathetic to its environment - insofar as an ugly brute like this ever can be.
#10 Posted by Pesky Mies' on 24 Oct 2012 at 13:14 PM
#9 - no.
Nothing to do with wit and a little imagination - but more a considerable greater budget and wilful disregard for existing moderist elevation.
I like the existing elevation as a transition from the Victorian(?) facade on the right and the later 90's rubbish you would rather it conforms to? No thanks - the streetscape is richer as proposed.
Nothing to do with wit and a little imagination - but more a considerable greater budget and wilful disregard for existing moderist elevation.
I like the existing elevation as a transition from the Victorian(?) facade on the right and the later 90's rubbish you would rather it conforms to? No thanks - the streetscape is richer as proposed.
#11 Posted by Pesky Mies' on 24 Oct 2012 at 13:20 PM
Wait a minute - it's a reclad....that is disappointing. Windows dumbed down to minimum dims to meet tight regs resulting in odd proportions and lifeless glass spandrels. Boo!
Shame they couldn't have refurbished the existing facade and kept the glazing modules.
Still think it is better than making it look like the Jury's Inn tho.
Shame they couldn't have refurbished the existing facade and kept the glazing modules.
Still think it is better than making it look like the Jury's Inn tho.
#12 Posted by Art Vandelay on 24 Oct 2012 at 13:54 PM
Well, at least the brick slips will look like brick from a distance - I'm glad they've not gone down the contextual route and thrown some godawful terracotta tiles at it!
#13 Posted by Egbert on 24 Oct 2012 at 16:10 PM
#9 - The generous strips of glazing are for me the saving grace of the existing building - shame to see them squeezed down to a minimum in these proposals. The Jury's Inn is pretty atrocious and I'd hope should serve as a model of how not to do development in Central Glasgow rather than a precedent!
#14 Posted by demosthenes on 24 Oct 2012 at 19:13 PM
Sound like some people aren't living in the real world. The reuse of a building which was derelict even when it was occupied as offices will at least tidy up the location.
#15 Posted by Egbert on 25 Oct 2012 at 09:39 AM
#14 - 'Derelict even when it was last occupied'? What is that supposed to mean?
#16 Posted by Sven on 25 Oct 2012 at 13:55 PM
Is there some explosion of student numbers? Jamaica Street is too far away from the University of Glasgow, Glasgow Cal and Strathclyde are both still 80-90% Glaswegian in origin, so there is a limited market. Strathclyde students seem to prefer being closer to the university by living in High Street and the developments there and in the 'Merchant City'. That leaves Glas Cal and the colleges around Strathclyde...again most students are locals. I do not see this being popular.
#17 Posted by Brian on 27 Oct 2012 at 10:24 AM
I remember the building used to b a jocentre.mmm now theres an idea.
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