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'.
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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'.
Glasgow Times
a day ago
- Glasgow Times
Glasgow heritage trusts receive fresh funding for 2025/26
Glasgow City Council has approved a total of £290,000 for the Glasgow Building Preservation Trust (GBPT) and the Glasgow City Heritage Trust (GCHT) for the 2025/26 financial year. The trusts provide specialist support and financial assistance to individuals and community groups looking to invest in Glasgow's heritage assets and play a central role in the city's newly established Built Heritage Commission. Read more: New lab aiming to become world's most advanced opens in Glasgow Councillor Ruairi Kelly, convener for built heritage and development at Glasgow City Council, said: "These trusts are key partners for the council and the city in the work done to protect and develop Glasgow's built heritage. "The funding now approved for the next year will allow them to continue the very valuable work that they do in what can be a challenging environment for heritage buildings – work that is important economically, culturally and preserving our unique built heritage and identity." The GBPT will receive £50,000 in core funding, while the GCHT will receive £240,000—split between £50,000 in core funding and £190,000 in grant funding. Established in 1982, the GBPT focuses on redeveloping historic buildings that are not viable for other organisations. Recent projects include the Kelvingrove Bandstand and the West Boathouse in Glasgow Green. Over the past year, the trust has explored the potential return of historic janitor's houses as social housing and conducted feasibility studies for sites such as the Lion Chambers, Langside Halls, and the Queens Park Glasshouse. It also organises the annual Glasgow Doors Open Days Festival, which this year attracted more than 30,000 visitors to 230 events. The GCHT, established in 2007, offers grants to owners of heritage buildings, supporting both small repairs and large restorations. To date, the trust has awarded more than 2,170 grants. Read more: Busy spot in Glasgow city centre to close for over month In the past year, it supported 20 projects with funding totalling £643,284, unlocking more than £4.4 million in total project investment. Recent supported projects include repairs to the Bell o' the Brae tenements, the Pyramid building (formerly Anderston Kelvingrove Parish Church), and the A listed landmark tower at Trinity College. The GCHT runs outreach and training programmes to develop skills in conservation trades, and offers educational resources including exhibitions, lectures, podcasts, and workshops. Both trusts also receive annual funding from Historic Environment Scotland.
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Could Glasgow's skyline be set to change with skyscrapers?
Think of skyscrapers and images come to mind of New York City's skyline, or hundreds of buildings soaring above the streets of Hong could Glasgow be poised for a similar boom in tall buildings?The city council formally approved its new tall buildings policy on Thursday, with a design guide establishing what areas could benefit from construction, such as Charing Cross and local authority hope the plans would lure more developers to the city, building upwards and therefore creating more accommodation and also space for businesses - at a time when land for development is becoming limited. It's a strategy other cities in the UK have pursued in recent years, with London and Manchester building clusters of skyscrapers at Scotland News understands the hope from some in the city council is that the new policy would shatter misconceptions regarding Glasgow having limits on building heights, and therefore encourage more interest from the moment the city's tallest building - the tower at the Science Centre by the River Clyde - is under the minimum height for a skyscraper, which is taller than 150m. It sits at began last year on the Ard development in Blythswood Hill, a 36-storey tower of student accommodation. But some of the city's tall buildings already lie vacant, while large blocks of flats - like on Wyndford Road - have been demolished in recent to redevelop the 14-storey Met Tower as a digital tech hub were cancelled last year. The new design guide doesn't set sights quite so high, defining tall buildings via various factors - including how it's perceived on street level and how it affects the skyline around highest category - metropolitan - is classed as a building three and a half times above the height of "the broader context" surrounding it, meaning somewhere like the Met Gerry Hogan, who works with the firm Collective Architecture, believes the policy is quite conservative, but welcome nonetheless."We've been a little reticent to be bold with in our approach to tall buildings, and arguably with architecture in Glasgow generally," he says. "If anything, the guide doesn't go far enough – they go through a very careful analysis of where tall buildings should be located and it doesn't give much encouragement for parts of the city." That belief is centred on the guide's suggestion on placing larger spaces - ideally mixed-use developments with shops or leisure facilities below housing - in certain parts of the city, therefore avoiding clashes with conservation areas like Pollok Park. Russell Baxter, a director with architecture and engineering firm NORR, believes the guide encourages clusters of buildings together."If you look at London, there's a lot of clusters there," he says. "It has a very protected skyline, so things like cathedrals and churches are retained, and key views are retained – that's everything in these cities. "So in Glasgow something like Trinity Tower at Park Circus is a key view – you can't obliterate that view for people. The idea is to cluster them together so you get a number of them in one area - the edge of the motorway is always seen as a place where that can happen." Mr Hogan believes that the quality of the new builds themselves will be key to making them a success, wherever they are situated in the city."A tall building is the same as any building, it comes down to how good it is," he explains. "Sure, height is a factor but if it's well designed and how it sits in the skyline has been considered then there's no reason it couldn't be put in more sensitive areas if they were well enough designed."What this seeks to promote, and what I agree with, is having multi-use buildings that bring in people throughout the day and engage people in using both the building and the wider area around it. "You don't want it putting a nearby park in the shade for example." 'You have to justify these buildings' Cllr Ruairi Kelly, the convener for development and land use at Glasgow city council, said the proposals will play a "significant role in our ambition to grow the city centre population" through providing a housing Manchester's recent boom in tall buildings was driven by public money, in particular the £300m Greater Manchester Housing Investment Glasgow will have to box clever, including with locations."You've not got the ability to do what you could do in Victorian times where you could just place a church or town hall at the end of a street, like a church being right on Ingram Street," says Mr Baxter. "If you go down Buchanan Street and the way the station entrance is sitting there – those were classic Victorian moves for how you masterplan cities and those buildings were key public buildings. "Now what you get are all buildings that are full of students and you have to justify them taking up these key positions."The guidance itself was drawn up through a public consultation and feedback from designers, developers and amenity Baxter believes the guidance will be helpful, even if the city having its own version of the Burj Khalifa remains a pie in the sky thought for now. "At the end of the day, you're not going to stop developers building tall. So what you need to do is control it, and that's what the policy is there to do – control where they are and control the quality of them."
