Selfridges ephemeral Trongate site may be languishing in indefinate ruin but the historic throughfare could still be getting a much needed shot in the arm. A partially derelict site could be rejuvenated via the insertion of a glass box to terminate the Brunswick Street vista. Extensive demolition would clear the site of the present dilapidated builds which have been stripped internally of any architectural value, retaining only a B listed façade. The classical grid of this façade informs the grid of the new with architectural detail subtly imprinted upon the glass and aluminium spandrels of adjoining new build. Ground level retail space will be provided alongside improvementsto the dank “Old Wynd”.
71 Virginia Street : Published 19/07/08
Planning ref. - 08/01715/DC
Developer - Consortium Property
Architect - Elder & Cannon
Materials - Copper alloy & anodised aluminium
Height - 9 floors
Total flats - 57
Cost - £6 million
Location - 71 Virginia Street
Status - Proposed
Start date -
Completion date -
An unsightly hole in the urban fabric could soon sprout a new landmark if Elder & Cannon's vision is realised. Utilising the tried and tested cascading terrace to bridge less lofty peers but playfully inverted at street level to dramatise entrance. Imbuing sufficient gravitas to bookend Virginia Street and impress The Corinthian a copper alloy facade works wonders for solidity, imparting a suitably luxurious sheen to marry well with traditional sandstones. A mettalic finish furnesses a razor sharp profile that the city would do well to adopt in lieu of stone.
Materials - Slate base below black ceramic granite
Total flats - 32
Cost - £2.5 million
Location - 80 High Street
Status - Approved
Start date -
Completion date -
Proposal to demolish McChuill's pub and bring value to the airspace by way of new homes and a roof garden.
Tradeston Residential
Developer - Caledonian Trust PLC
Architect - Ian Gaul
Materials - reconstituted stone, terracotta render and glazed curtain walling
Height - 9 floors (Paterson Street)/8 floors (West Street)
Total flats - 191
Cost -
Location - Morrison Street/Paterson Street/Wallace Street and West Street
Status - Approved
Start date - 2007 "at the earliest"
Completion date -
The flats are built around a raised central courtyard above two levels of parking incorporating 122 spaces, each elevation has two sides in reconstituted stone and a central band in reconstituted stone with sections inbetween of glass curtain walling render and terracotta. The scheme originally comprised an 11 storey zinc clad tower (right), deemed "inappropriate". The scheme borders the M74 extension and is close to Kingston Quay and Tradeston tower.
Materials - Natural stone, pre-patinated zinc and coloured render
Total flats - 51
Cost - £3.5 million
Location - 351 Argyle St/45-47 York St
Status - Proposed
Start date -
Completion date -
The building is composed of masonry finish to York Street, with mettalic wing on Argyle Street, ground floor commercial/retail uses are provided. Atlantic Square is visible in the background, with The Bridge facing across Argyle St.
Materials - Re-con stone base, self coloured precast concrete cills, off white render, timber and concrete tile roof
Total flats - 20
Cost - £1.9m
Location - Teviot and Kelvinhaugh St
Status - u/c
Start date - October 2007
Completion date - September 2009
A triangular site dictated placing a commercial unit to the corner with parking behind. Above there are 6 identical floor plates, each accommodating 3 no 2 bed flats. The 2 Southerly flats have balconies and views across the Clyde to the Science museum and the BBC, whilst the third, situated on the north side of the building is more generous and benefits from a westerly aspect. There are 2 larger flats on the top floor, each with its own private terrace overlooking the river. The building is a post-tensioned concrete frame, with internal partitions, external and party walls of metal frame. The building is clad in a traditionally fired brick manufactured in Cumbria. Windows are aluminium frame. Vibration from a railway tunnel is addressed by means of isolating internal walls and linings from the main frame.
Page & Park have sought historical inspiration from the Edwardian splendour of the Hat Rack for a restricted gable end site at Kelvinbridge.
Opinion
Though tradition has been upheld in form the appearance is strikingly contemporary as the architects have applied an evolution of their own twisting bee hive formula pioneered at Dixon St. Eight cups of brick accommodation are stacked upon a spiral to eye pleasing effect, this sequence of irregular layers originate from a quirky glazed baseline to culminate in a unique roofscape dramatised by a penthouse "lightbox" designed to echo the ebulliant dome of the nearby Caledonian Chambers.
A single storey glass penthouse is proposed for this residential conversion. Interestingly Holmes Partnership have objected on behalf of HBOS owners of the adjacent110 Queen Street on the grounds that this will impede HBOS's right to maximise air rights as development will obstruct daylight of Olympic House residents. The GPO building sits adjacent on George Square.
Location - Jocelyn Square, Bridgegate, St Margaret's Place and Mart Street
Status - Approved
Start date -
Completion date -
Each home will be accessed from a floodlit central atrium. The development will feature ground floor retail whilst some flats will enjoy underground parking.
Materials - Sandstone, clear and coloured glazing, wood veneer
Height - 7 floors
Total Homes - 31
Cost -
Location - 12 Gibson Street
Status - u/c
Start date -
Completion date -
UNITE have afforded this scheme greater status than similar builds, see Blackfriars and Victoria Hall, evidenced by the production of real architecture clothed in high quality material and daring use of colour. The new public balcony overlooking the Kelvin should become a local landmark.
JM architects are exploring solutions for improving public realm and integration within the wider city as part of a study of the Forth and Clyde canal corridor from Maryhill to Port Dundas, providing a common thread to interconnect the many canalside developments such as Mondriaan, The Timber Basin and Kelvin Quay.
Materials - fair faced brickwork, zinc rainscreen and limestone column encasures atop a granite plinth
Height - 7 floors
Total flats
- 111
Cost -
Location - 35-47 Kyle Street
Status - Proposed
Start date -
Completion date -
An abject tract of lands in embarassing proximity to City Chambers could soon play host to a 2,562sq/m car dealership below residences each enjoying basement parking and helping to obscure Victoria Hall. A U-plan profile lends itself to enlargement should the neighbouring Douglas Park BMW garage ever be redeveloped, sowing the seeds of a fresh future as Buchanan Galleries parks in the bus station
Previous scheme
A utilitarian wall of spartan White concrete panels, standing seam metal cladding, steel framed glass balustrade is tempered with bold red PPC metal balconies, raising the bar somewhat in an area otherwise devoid of stimulation. Come nightfall though (if visualisations are realised) the structure more readily asserts itself, enveloped within a luminescent shroud of cobalt blue uplighters as golden light burns through mettalic skin to define a randomised patternated sequence.
Materials - Natural stone, zinc, glazed panels and red brick
Height - 7 floors
Total homes - 43
Cost - £4.5 million
Location - 341 Gt Western Rd
Status - Proposed
Start date -
Completion date -
This proposal will complete a west end tenement block vacated by a petrol filling station. Parapet and cornice lines are carried with upper floors recessed although symmetry is impaired by low modern ceiling heights.
Commissioned poetry from a local primary school will be engraved in flagstones at a new viewing area.
This scheme along with The Metro marks a local regeneration of Garnethill.
Total flats -39 (Phase 3)/335 (Total, all 3 Phases)
Cost -
Location - Pollokshaws Road/Barrland Street
Status - U/C (Phase 3)
Start date -
Completion date -
The ambitiously monickered "Utopia" marks 3rd and final phase of Westpoint's Southgate development. Diminishing materially from reconstituted stone through brick and zinc with ascension in height the estate is compromised by street facing parking vents. Reinforcing the urban edge of Pollokshaws from dystopian wastelands south of the Clyde in the most basic of residential solutions. Lack of aplomb being par for the course in a district already papped with The Gateway and Plaza though lifted by Tower 464.
Mid-rise Residential Developments
Page & Park have sought historical inspiration from the Edwardian splendour of the Hat Rack for a restricted gable end site at Kelvinbridge. 
