Glasgow set for skyscraper boom as new planning rules to come in
The Tall Buildings Design Guide outlines regions like Charing Cross, Anderston Quay, Trongate, and Cowcaddens as potential sites for taller structures.
The guide also provides expectations for building quality, design, and aesthetics.
There is a focus on mixed-use developments, recommending street-level retail and leisure spaces.
This marks a departure from previous decades when building heights were restricted.
The guide anticipates a shift in the city's skyline, aiming to achieve the city centre population densities typical of European cities.
The guidance was developed based on feedback from initial consultations with architects, designers, developers, and amenity organisations, as well as a public consultation that received more than 270 responses.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, convener for development and land use at Glasgow City Council, said: "Tall buildings will play a significant role in our ambition to grow the city centre population and encouraging major construction projects will be a boost for the local economy and employment.
"Having clear parameters of what we will support, and where, will give clarity to residents and assurances to those who wish to invest and develop in our city.
"Glasgow is very much open for business, and if we want to see a thriving city then we need to build it."
The guidance will be presented to the council's City Administration Committee for final approval.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Herald Scotland
an hour ago
- The Herald Scotland
Starmer steel deal shows Swinney how nationalisation should work
A compelling read it certainly wasn't but it helped pass the time before the sun started to go down and I could think about dinner. Economists have never agreed on the benefits of nationalisation and history is littered with failed examples, particularly in the UK. But the two leaders currently occupying Bute House and Downing Street certainly seem to be in agreement that it's a good thing. And in many cases it is good but it's what you do with the assets as a Government after it is been taken into public control that is the important thing. It is here that John Swinney and Sir Keir Starmer diverge dramatically if recent events are anything to go by. Last week, a £500 million five-year deal was struck between Network Rail and British Steel to help save the Scunthorpe steelworks. British Steel is to supply 337,000 tonnes of rail track, which will secure thousands of manufacturing jobs. Why this is important is that it comes just two months after the UK Government used emergency powers to prevent the blast furnaces from immediate closure. Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander, said it 'truly transforms the outlook for British Steel and its dedicated workforce in Scunthorpe'. British Steel is to supply a minimum of 337,000 tonnes of long and short rail. A further 80-90,000 tonnes is to be provided by other European manufacturers and deals are expected to be announced shortly, the Department for Transport (DfT) said. In March, Chinese firm Jingye, which bought British Steel in 2020, proposed to shut Scunthorpe's two blast furnaces and other key steelmaking operations. Alan Simpson: The new £144m electric rail line without enough trains Alan Simpson: Build more houses for rural Scots, not tax second home owners Alan Simpson: NatureScot may be threatening a rare mussel it should be protecting Alan Simpson: Scotland's tourism sector needs to be heard before it's too late This came despite months of negotiations and a £500 million co-investment offer from the UK Government. As a result, Jingye launched a consultation which it said would affect between 2,000 and 2,700 jobs. In April, the UK Government used emergency powers to take control of British Steel and continue production at the site. The Scunthorpe plant has been producing steel for Britain's railways since 1865. The Network Rail contract, worth an estimated £500 million, starts on July 1 and is set to provide the company with 80% of its rail needs. To ensure security of supply, Network Rail is set to award smaller contracts to some European manufacturers, who will supply specialist rail products alongside British Steel. The agreement is the first major public procurement since the emergency legislation was passed. Both Network Rail and the Scunthorpe steel plant are both owned by the UK Government and the swift deal is clearly a direct benefit of being nationalised. No need for public procurement rules when both sites are state-owned. The Government sees it as being complimentary to the UK and US trade deal which aims to lower tariffs and protect jobs across key sectors, including steel. The deal also compares to the complete and utter horlicks that the Scottish Government has made following nationalisation of key industries. Ministers, of course, took over the stricken Ferguson Marine shipyard in Port Glasgow in 2019 after it collapsed into administration. It seemed to be the right decision as the shipyard's main customer was the state-owned ferry body CMAL, so a steady stream of orders should have been expected. Instead the yard is facing an uncertain future after losing out on several publicly funded ferry building contracts. Now ministers have even halted a vital subsidy for the yard that is needed to bring in vital work to keep it alive, it can be development has raised alarm that the yard will not survive beyond any delivery of the much-delayed and over budget CalMac ferry Glen Rosa. The yard's business plan to 2029 assumed that the Scottish Government would sanction a direct award of the small vessel replacement programme. It was an integral part of a plan to deliver a 'sustainable, profitable, efficient and competitive yard'. After it was decided that the £175m contract would go to a competitive tender, CMAL, the state-controlled ferry procurer declared in March that the job to build seven new loch-class electric ferries would go to Poland .It previously awarded two other ferry contracts worth to £220m to Cemre Marin Endustri A.S (Turkey) - with Ferguson Marine again losing out. Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop confirmed a 'substantial subsidy' was needed to allow it to get a direct uncontested contract to build seven new small ferries and secure its future. But she admitted in correspondence with former community safety minister Ash Regan that that subsidy was not justified. Ms Regan has raised concerns that it was 'not the direct award that's the issue it's the unwillingness to put public money behind a public asset'. Ferguson Marine has been dogged with issues with the delivery of ferries Glen Sannox and Glen Rosa which were due online in the first half of 2018. The last estimates suggest the costs of delivery of the vessels for CalMac will have soared to more than five times the original £97m cost. The shipyard firm currently employs more than 400 staff including over 100 sub-contractors. Goodness knows how they must be feeling, knowing full well that the Scottish Government is in the process of sinking the yard once and for all. For all the arguments against nationalisation, no book on economics will ever list sheer incompetence by Government ministers as a reason it will fail. While there are very good reasons that the yard is struggling, one of the main reasons is the sheer complexity of the two ferries which have made them very difficult to build. As it was the current administration that insisted on the specifications of being dual fuel and 'green' then it seems extremely harsh for ministers to now throw the workforce under a bus. Sir Keir Starmer's Government has shown exactly how nationalisation should work for the benefit of the workforce and the economy as a whole. For it to be a success, there has to be a will, strategy and above all, economic competence amongst ministers. Ministers at Holyrood have shown none of that and the Ferguson's workforce and islanders have been left high and dry as a result.
Fashion United
2 hours ago
- Fashion United
Fashion brands brace for China's export shift
Facing escalating tariffs from the U.S. and political uncertainty, Chinese manufacturers are rapidly refocusing their export strategies, shifting their gaze to Europe, Southeast Asia, and domestic e-commerce in a bid to weather the latest rupture in global trade. According to the Financial Times, exports to Europe surged 12 percent in May, with Germany alone up 22 percent year-on-year, as factories across Zhejiang, the country's second-largest exporting province, work to secure new clients in markets less volatile than the U.S. For global fashion and retail brands that depend on China's robust manufacturing base, this pivot could reshape sourcing dynamics and pricing structures. 'We're very eager, we can make anything,' said Xia Shukun of Shaoxing Sulong Outdoor Technology, which is courting new European clients. Yet with this eastward tilt comes rising competition. European buyers, once dependent on a smaller pool of Chinese suppliers, now face a deluge of low-cost offerings, threatening established relationships and price stability. 'This is the toughest year yet,' said Vera Wu told the FT, whose company supplies accessories to Lidl and Ikea. As Beijing doubles down on cross-border e-commerce and subsidises overseas trade shows, the fashion industry may need to prepare for what EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen called 'a new China shock', one where overcapacity, not just geopolitics, floods the global market.
Glasgow Times
7 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
Grant for developer of Glasgow's Egyptian Halls approved
The funding — which will be dependent on the completion of a compulsory purchase — is expected to go towards 'bricks and mortar' construction work, rather than feasibility studies. Glasgow City Council is investigating the possibility of buying the rundown Alexander 'Greek' Thomson-designed halls on Union Street, where the upper floors have been lying empty for decades. If a compulsory purchase order (CPO) goes ahead, the property could then be transferred to a developer to bring it back into use. A development brief is set to be published this month, which will be made available to interested parties. They will have 12 weeks to submit proposals. READ MORE: Grant on offer for potential developers of Glasgow's Egyptian Halls It was previously revealed a consortium, including the publisher of the List magazine, with plans for a food market and hotel are keen to take on the halls. The building is currently owned by two companies — Union Street Developments and Union Street Properties — both run by Dundee businessman Derek Souter and his partners. They will also be invited to submit proposals to the council — and are able to sell the property voluntarily at any point. Councillors backed the potential grant at a meeting of the city administration committee on Thursday. Cllr Ruairi Kelly, SNP, the council's convener for built heritage, said the aim of the grant is to 'instigate interest and ensure we have got credible bids coming forward'. It is also to 'assure any organisation that we will be an active partner in bringing the Egyptian Halls back to purposeful use', he added, and to 'signify our dedication to supporting whichever organisation is successful through that procurement process'. The cash would be released at an 'appropriate point', with milestones to be set during any renovation project. Cllr Kelly said it is intended to fund 'bricks and mortar construction work, rather than feasibility studies or planning or anything like that'. READ MORE: 'Glasgow deserves better': Heritage groups slam approval of O2 ABC site plans He added there was 'no doubt' the developers would require funding from other sources, whether 'investors, heritage organisations, or wherever else the prospective bidder says they are going to raise the funding from'. Cllr Kelly's paper came after councillors supported a recommendation to investigate the use of CPO powers in February. Officials will evaluate proposals for the halls against a criteria which will include how they intend to retain and use the building, previous experience, timeframe and deliverability and funding. A preferred proposal could then be selected, with the council promoting a CPO to buy the building for the chosen party. The plan would be for the council to enter a 'back to back agreement' with a developer. It would include obligations to have planning permission, show reasonable attempts to voluntarily buy the property and an undertaking to 'meet all of the council's costs including compensation payable as a consequence of the CPO'. Cllr Kelly previously said CPOs can be 'lengthy and complex' but it would be 'the first major step towards the repair and reuse of this beautiful building'.
