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SIGNIFICANT regeneration is to be delivered in Glasgow by 2030 as part of Glasgow City Council’s new city centre strategy, the local authority has said.
The blueprint was approved by the council today, amidst ‘billions’ of pounds in public and private investment being delivered in the city.
Major office, residential, hospitality and public realm developments – including Candleriggs Square, the Barclays Campus, the Love Loan development, JPMorgan Chase, and the major new Moda residential complex at the former Strathclyde Police HQ on Pitt Street – have seen investments of almost £1 billion come to Glasgow while also transforming whole sections of the city centre.
The new city centre strategy 2024-30 highlights billions of pounds of further new developments in the pipeline over the coming years. As well as new retail and leisure destinations created through the wholesale overhaul of Buchanan Galleries and the St Enoch Centre, major new residential developments are being progressed while the innovation sectors around universities are expected to expand further, the council said.
The local authority is establishing a new approach to managing regeneration activity, with a new development team working to proactively identify solutions for key sites and deliver the actions plan in the new city centre strategy.
Investment of £120 million has already been committed to ongoing projects that will span the duration of the new strategy, including plans for a revamped George Square which the council said will be delivered over the next two years, as well as a city centre greening programme, and the transformation of key streets such as Sauchiehall Street Precinct and Argyle Street as part of the Avenues project.
Councillor Angus Millar, convener for city centre recovery at Glasgow City Council, said, “Over the decades, Glasgow has shown itself to be a master at reinvention and the latest stage of that reinvention is now well and truly underway. We know that investors have had confidence in Glasgow and this is being borne out with what we’re seeing coming on-stream.
“In the next few years Glaswegians can expect to see a lot more activity going on in the city centre. Some of this regeneration work may cause disruption, but this is about securing the city centre’s future as the beating heart of Glasgow for years to come.”
Following public consultation, the city centre strategy 2024-30 was considered and approved by a council committee. The committee report noted the impact of the pandemic and growth in virtual working, online retail, distance learning, and changes in consumer behaviour in limiting the city centre’s progress but also in bringing forward change. It also highlighted that, in 2022, Glasgow recorded its highest ever levels of foreign investment, with forecasts showing strong expansion demand in several key sectors within the city centre including accommodation and food, with professional, scientific, and technical activities also projected to grow.
The report also stated that demand for new office space has bounced back, with employers taking forward new high-end working environments to attract staff back to the workplace post-pandemic.
Work to support the recovery of city centre footfall continues, with the latest weekend footfall figures reaching pre-pandemic levels, and night-time footfall in January 2024 standing at 14% higher than January 2020.
The new strategy will be overseen by the city centre taskforce, co-chaired by councillor Millar and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick, and with input from the public and private sectors.
Councillor Millar added, “No-one is under any illusion as to the scale of our challenges, but the pieces of the city centre jigsaw are now falling into place, and people in the city will really start to see that. And the consultation responses show that the public are behind us: from bigger-picture aims such as doubling the city centre population, giving new purpose to the Clyde and delivering on our net zero ambitions through to routine issues of cleanliness. We’re working together to build a city centre for the future while making sure the city centre of now is the best it can be.”
