July 10 2013

Glasgow City Council has unveiled details of its in-house £250m vision for the Sighthill district of Glasgow, transforming the tower block estates of Fountainwell and Pinkston into a new low-rise community connected to the city centre by a new pedestrian link bridge across the M8.

An application for planning permission in principle for the project, the biggest infrastructure and remediation project to be undertaken in the city since construction of the M74, details plans for 791 new homes on the 50 hectare site.

This would swell the present population of 1,100 to over 3,000 with further scope for a 500 space student residential development, a small retail presence and a potential hotel.

A school campus with associated community and sports facilities will form the heart of the new community alongside a ‘village square’ with a heavy emphasis placed on public realm and landscaping throughout the development.

This will feed into a revamped Sighthill Park by way of a new ‘linear park’ of SUDS, open spaces and landscaping.

Plans for the area were fast-tracked as part of Glasgow’s unsuccessful bid to host the 2018 Youth Olympics.

6 Comments

#1 Posted by wonky on 10 Jul 2013 at 18:33 PM

This looks like a great proposal- its hard of course to tell what kind of finish will be used- but the masterplan looks, at least in theory, very good. There is decent density and plenty of greenery with close proximity to central Glasgow. As always in the UK- we downgrade the public realm and refuse to see the value of infrastructure in the shaping of communities: the bridge over the M8 is key to connectivity- for walking and cycling ( both of which badly need encouragement in Glasgow).

#2 Posted by Chris on 11 Jul 2013 at 10:04 AM

It has the potential to be an attractive area for families. It all depends on the quality of the builds.

#3 Posted by Tom on 11 Jul 2013 at 10:57 AM

This masterplan has the potenital to reshape the way we view this part of Glasgow completely, well done GCC

#4 Posted by Sven on 11 Jul 2013 at 15:13 PM

I would have made better use of the canal and water. People like looking onto water and it is calming. The development has made no use of the canalside apart from vacuous 'community areas' that will be empty for most of the year due to the weather.

it is an improvement but could have made better use of its surroundings.

#5 Posted by Neil C on 11 Jul 2013 at 17:04 PM

Along with the similar masterplans already underway at Laurieston and Anderston, this looks like an excellent regeneration scheme on the edge of the city centre. It's a shame it's taken 50 years to undo past mistakes, but hopefully by 2018, Sighthill will be a suburb its residents can be proud of.

#6 Posted by Andrew O'Halloran on 22 Jul 2016 at 22:48 PM

I am glad to see that a tiny stretch of the Monklands Canal will be brought back to life. We should be looking at the social mix - we need a variety of people with different incomes living together. Another key part of mobility and levelling is ensure segragated cycle corridors through the community and to the city at large, thus promoting health, social interaction. This would also reduce pollution (still a major issue in this area!).

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