PLANS have been approved to see The Lighthouse building in Glasgow city centre be used as a location to help climate tech firms grow.
Designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the A-listed building was previously home to the Glasgow Herald and, from 1999, was Scotland’s Centre for Architecture, Design, and the City.
Glasgow City Council will now begin negotiations with Sustainable Ventures (Scotland) Limited over a long-term lease for the 88% (5,424 sq ft) of the floorspace in the building that the local authority owns.
Sustainable Ventures is affiliated with Sustainable Workspaces CIC, Europe’s largest ecosystem of climate tech startups, with 130 startups co-located at their HQ workspace in London.
The organisation has supported over 700 climate tech SMEs to scale, who have raised over £1.3 billion and created 6,500 green inclusive jobs. Their research has found that over 500 potential workspace member businesses – mostly from Scotland, with some from other parts of the UK = would be interested in taking a space if the lease would be successful, the council said.
Scottish climate tech companies generate more than £15 billion each year, and the majority of these businesses are located in the central belt; within two hours of the Glasgow city region.
The project at The Lighthouse aims to secure private sector investment that will transform the building into a net zero innovation hub, providing the place to go for clean tech companies in Scotland to start up, scale up, and outgrow the facility – providing a pipeline of economic activity and supporting the skills and talent emerging from Glasgow and the wider city-region.
If negotiations are successful, there will be a financial commitment to repair the building and public access maintained, as well as the economic benefits that will be delivered through the growth of this thriving sector of the economy, the council added.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, convener for built heritage and development at Glasgow City Council, said, “I’m delighted that negotiations on bringing The Lighthouse back to full life have been given the go-ahead. This is a Charles Rennie Mackintosh classic which has been seeking a new purpose over a number of years. Plans to use this architectural gem to provide space for hi-tech start-ups is exactly the type of project which can revitalise this great building.
“When Mackintosh designed the Lighthouse it represented the height of modernity in a Glasgow known across the world for its invention and innovation. If we can successfully conclude negotiations, there’s a wonderful serendipity that over 130 years on it could find a new use in a new Glasgow which is again at the cutting edge of innovation.”
