April 6 2021

Glasgow City Council's contracts and property committee is to decide on Thursday whether to recommend John McAslan & Partners is awarded the design contract for the remodelling of George Square and its environs.

The £2.3m City Deal funded contract could see the practice lead the delivery of new infrastructure and public realm to develop the central civic space as a hub for the broader Avenues programme, following another design competition.

A long-term solution is being sought to formalise recent pandemic-related changes including pedestrianisation of the east and west sides as well as a general upgrade of feeder roads to promote greener forms of travel. The contract follows the conclusion of a public consultation which recommended establishing a water feature and reorganising statues to counter negative perceptions among respondents regarding the 'unattractive' space.

The possible win comes eight years after McAslan was snubbed in an earlier design competition for the square which was unceremoniously abandoned. McAslan & Partners ranked first with an evaluation score of 92.39%, seeing off competition from Hawkins/Brown (92%); Optimised Environments (91.42%); LDA (90.6%); Gardiner & Theobald (90%), AECOM (71.99%) and Civic Engineers (disqualified), in the latest competition.

The design contract will go to committee on Thursday afternoon, with a further series of events and workshops will be held from July as designs are developed. Completion is anticipated by December 2028.

2 Comments

#1 Posted by EM0 on 6 Apr 2021 at 19:56 PM

Completion by 2028 .... is that not a bit excessive...!!!

#2 Posted by Progressive Phrenologist on 7 Apr 2021 at 18:24 PM

It took the Chinese 4 and a half years to build the new high-tech Daxing International Airport. It will take us 7 years to tart up George Square a little bit. Is it any wonder our country is going down the pan...

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