GLASGOW City Council has accepted £437,500 in developer contribution funding for part of the £115 million avenues programme being delivered in Glasgow city centre.
The developer contributions were made through the ENV2 policy of allocating such funds to public realm works, and come from private developments at York Street/James Watt Street and Robertson Street/York Street.
The avenues project is promised by the local authority to result in the ‘transformation’ of the city centre’s streetscape and public realm – making it more ‘people friendly, attractive, greener and sustainable’ through the creation of active travel infrastructure, widened pavements and soft landscaping.
The developer contribution funding will go towards the Holland Street avenue. The council confirmed that the funding will see £350,000 made available for capital work, with the remaining £87,500 to support maintenance of the avenue over a ten-year period. It added that work is expected to begin in the Autumn of 2022, with a completion date of Summer 2024.
The local authority also confirmed that an equivalent value already allocated to this avenue by the Glasgow city region city deal will now be allocated to a two-way segregated cycleway on Pitt Street which will provide a north-south cycle connection to Waterloo Street.
A spokesperson from Glasgow City Council said, “This is an area of the city centre undergoing significant change, with the demolition of the former Strathclyde Police headquarters building at Pitt Street, and the site now being redeveloped for a landmark housing and retail development, and developers are finalising a long-term lease of the former High School site with a view to converting the buildings there to a hotel and events space. The avenues team engaged with the developers of these schemes to ensure the Holland Street avenue will also bring the best possible benefits for these projects and the people who will live, work and visit there.”
