A major milestone has been marked in the £300 million regeneration of Candleriggs Square in Glasgow’s Merchant City.
Developed by a joint venture comprising Drum Property Group and Stamford Investments, the site has celebrated its first completed building following the opening of the UK’s first The Social Hub – a hybrid hospitality location combining hotel, student and extended stay accommodation, co-working space, and leisure facilities.
The 3.6-acre Candleriggs Square site is regarded by many as the last piece of Glasgow’s Merchant City regeneration jigsaw. Originally home to Glasgow’s fruit and vegetable market for most of the 20th century, the square played host to a department store before remaining derelict for more than two decades, following the closure of the last operator in 1999. The regeneration is now starting to take shape, with the next building to complete on site – the 346-apartment BTR scheme delivered on behalf of Legal & General – forecast for practical completion this summer.
Graeme Bone, group MD of Drum Property Group, said, “The development vision we outlined when we first took ownership of the site in 2019 is now starting to come to fruition. Despite many construction and delivery challenges, we are now seeing this vital part of the city centre, which had lain dormant for more than 20 years, beginning to take shape.
“It’s great to see these spectacular buildings coming out of the ground, bringing people, investment and excitement back into the heart of Glasgow city centre. The opening of The Social Hub Glasgow marks the return of Candleriggs Square to what it once was as part of the city’s rich commercial history – a bustling market-place full of life, vitality and interest, intrinsically linked to the rest of the city centre.”
The Social Hub Glasgow spans some 20,000 sqm and is the result of a £90 million investment. It has space for up to 222 co-workers along with 20 private offices and eight flexible meeting and event spaces. There are 494 rooms including four-star hotel rooms, as well as those for students and extended-stay guests. The concept is the brainchild of Edinburgh native Charlie MacGregor, who set up the first of what has grown into a portfolio of 23 hubs across Europe, in 2012 in Rotterdam.
