THE consortium headed by Sir Robert McAlpine has been given the nod ahead of a BAM-led group to build a £228m campus development in the heart of Glasgow.
The consortium, known as Glasgow Learning Quarter (GLQ), expects to start site work later this year, working to designs by Reiach and Hall and Michael Laird Architects. Work will be concentrated at two locations, Cathedral Street and the Riverside campus at Thistle Street, and will provide accommodation for around 40,000 students and 1,200 members of staff of City of Glasgow College.
The campuses represent the single largest estates investment in the college sector in Scotland and are publicly and privately financed with support from the Scottish Government and the college’s financial reserves. The European Investment Bank has in principle approved up to £100m of backing.
Julia Kennedy, associate director at the Scottish Futures Trust and who has supported the college through the procurement process, commented: “I am delighted that the project has reached this significant milestone and that construction work will soon start on Scotland’s largest NPD [non-profit distributing] financed college.
“It is the release of funding through the NPD programme that is allowing the college to be built now, rather than wait years for traditional capital funding to become available.”
The final stage of the procurement phase will include seeking planning permission from the city council and finalising the funding strategy. Once those are complete, the contract will be awarded and construction will begin on site in the summer.
The winning team incorporates Reiach & Hall and Michael Laird Architects (which have been collaborating since March on the project) alongside FES, Arup Scotland and Hulley and Kirkwood.
Images – Top, First views of the architects’ plans show the atrium at the City Campus and (above) the view from Albert Bridge of the Riverside Campus.
