New plans submitted to redevelop Glasgow's Buchanan Galleries
It said the planning proposal could bring 'several exciting enhancements' to Buchanan Galleries, including the reconfiguration and modernisation of the existing mall, adding more 'high street' retail frontage and better engaging with the street front.
The plan comes a year after Landsec abandoned a plan to demolish he mall and build a smaller shopping area along with residential units.
Other plans proposed include creating spaces for new shops and restaurants including a food hall, new public spaces with improved accessibility, a new retail and leisure space in the gap site beside Buchanan Galleries and a modern digital art strategy.
The plans could see a rolling series of upgrades, with stores kept open (Image: NQ) Stuart Orr, Senior Development Manager, Landsec said: 'Our plan is a direct response to the community's call for improved retail and leisure spaces in Glasgow. Extensive stakeholder engagement over the years has shaped a solution that truly reflects the priorities of the local community.'
"In collaboration with Glasgow's award winning Threesixty Architecture, we have crafted an exciting and flexible design to accommodate both global and local brands. Our plan prioritises the swift enhancement of existing elements of the centre to provide quick benefits to visitors.'
Landsec said it will work closely with Glasgow City Council throughout the planning process.
Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: 'There is a renewed and growing confidence in Glasgow, with significant development across the city centre and rising investor interest.
'We welcome proposals that align with the very significant public investment going into our city centre and take forward the ongoing transformation that we are now witnessing.'
Landsec recently purchased 229-249 Buchanan Street for £14m (Image: Lismore) Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Chief Executive, Stuart Partick said: "We warmly welcome progress on a planning application. It's great to see continued development in the heart of Glasgow, especially through a refreshed approach that promises to deliver real, tangible benefits quickly.
"The site is a key strategic asset, and its redevelopment represents a major step forward in supporting the city centre's sustainable recovery, renewal, and long-term growth.
"This kind of ambition and momentum is exactly what Glasgow needs to adapt and thrive."
Threesixty Architecture, Managing Director, Alan Anthony stated: 'These proposals align with Glasgow City Council's Golden Z Vision, and will both enhance street level activity and transform upper levels into leisure and hospitality spaces.
"By adapting the existing structure to be more open and inviting, we will create an animated and vibrant backdrop to what will become a key civic space further animated by dynamic lighting and digital media.
"This approach will most quickly transform the top end of Buchanan Street with the least disruption, offering a blueprint on how we might reinvent similar structures in our urban centres.'
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The National
2 days ago
- The National
‘I should be living independently – but I can't afford it'
The full-time worker's inability to buy or rent her own place is highlighted as it was claimed that planning permission for build to rent and student accommodation outstrips affordable housing by over 20 to one in the city. Liz Davidson is just one of the many people affected by Glasgow's housing emergency. She has lived in Partick since she was five years old but says there is no way she could afford the new housing currently being built in the area. 'There are two developments going on near where I live, neither of which is at all affordable to me,' she said. READ MORE: Scottish Government minister joins march in support of Palestine 'I work a full-time job and they would want about 75% of my wages for a one-bedroom flat. Because of this, I've had to make the hard decision to stay living with my gran in her flat, which is a social home. 'At 37, I should be living independently and starting a family but I can't afford to. That's not my shame, it's Glasgow City Council's. They seem to think they're above the rules when it comes to building affordable housing.' The National Planning Framework 4's requirement is that all developments include 25% affordable homes or provide 'commuted sums' to help pay for infrastructure. However purpose built student accommodation is exempt from the rule, making it more attractive to investors. Campaign group Living Rent claim developments of purpose built student accommodation (PBSA) and build to rent in Glasgow outstrip affordable housing by 23 to one. They say only 447 units of affordable housing (mid-market rent and social housing) were approved between February 1 2023, and March 1 2025, while 53.7% of all applications granted planning permission are for PBSA developments in Glasgow. The majority of build-to-rent and PBSA developments are in the city centre, without any affordable housing units. The figures show that the council could be doing much more to alleviate the housing crisis, Living Rent claims. Only two developments by private corporations had an affordable housing contribution, one of 15% and the other of 13%, the Living Rent study says. In addition, the researchers could find no evidence of Glasgow City Council agreeing commuted sums for build-to-rent or private developments that failed to provide the 25% affordable housing component. The council declared a housing emergency in November 2023 citing an 'overwhelming increase' in homelessness. READ MORE: I went to the 'first legal wedding' at the Edinburgh Fringe – here's what it was like As of September 2024, there were more than 7000 people living in temporary accommodation, of which 3100 are children. This is costing the city £36 million a year for B&B spend, a 40% increase over the last three years. Glasgow has also seen a 22% increase in homelessness applications in the year from September 2023 to 4241. This is not helped by the rise in private rental prices. Since 2010, rent has increased 81.8% for a two bedroom property, over 30% above inflation (50%). Bianca Lopez, a Living Rent's spokesperson, said Glasgow was quickly becoming a city that prioritised the interests of developers over the wellbeing of its residents. 'Glaswegians don't need more student accommodation or expensive build-to-rent,' she said. 'We need social and affordable housing. 'Across Glasgow, people are being forced out of their communities, pushed into poverty and, in some cases, made homeless by the shortage of affordable places to live. 'Our report exposes the hypocrisy of Glasgow City Council and their failures to take action on affordable housing, despite announcing a housing emergency. 'It's unbelievable that the council has chosen to prioritise private developers' profits over the homes that Glasgow so badly needs.' Lopez said the council needed to prioritise affordable homes in its planning system and shift the balance away from unaffordable tenures such as PBSA and build to rent. 'It needs to implement the 25% requirement in NPF4 across the board. Only then will it be able to deliver the social and affordable housing that Glasgow deserves,' she said. What is the council saying? A Glasgow City Council spokesperson said: 'We do not recognise these figures. Around a half of all homes built in Glasgow every year are affordable/social, and comparing student rooms to new homes with a number of bedrooms is not comparing like for like. In Glasgow, there is a very high proportion of social homes built compared with the figures for any other Scottish or UK local authority.' The spokesperson added that planning applications did not lead to a development. 'If a housing association puts in a planning application for a development of social/affordable homes, then it will have support for funding and will in all likelihood be built out,' he said. 'This is not always the case for PBSA or build to rent.' However Living Rent said this was ignoring the 'fundamental point' of their research. 'The council is trying to pull the wool over our eyes by citing past data and ignoring the fundamental point of what our research says: their planning approvals are favouring unaffordable housing which will push up rents and push us out of the city centre,' said a spokesperson. 'Unless action is taken now, Glaswegians who have lived here their whole lives will be forced out by high rents and a lack of social housing. Glasgow needs social and affordable housing developments to be prioritised not PBSA and build-to-rent developments. 'If the developments that have received planning approval go ahead or developments seeking approval are granted permission, Glasgow and particularly the city centre would become increasingly gentrified. 'Our city centre will be a playground for the rich, all the while enabling foreign investment funds huge returns.' With regards to comparing student accommodation with other housing developments, Living Rent said it would be wrong to count a student development as one unit when it contained hundreds of beds. 'Many social housing developments did not specify the number of beds, so the 'unit' metric is imperfect but the closest way to compare what is being approved,' said the spokesperson. 'Even if we assume that a social home is on average 2.5 beds, approved purpose-built student accommodation and build-to-rent developments still vastly outstrip social and affordable housing by eight to one.'
Scottish Sun
2 days ago
- Scottish Sun
Inside ‘secret' plans to turn iconic Glasgow building into ‘one of Europe's finest hotels'
It's one of Glasgow's biggest American-Classical-style commercial buildings UNDER WRAPS Inside 'secret' plans to turn iconic Glasgow building into 'one of Europe's finest hotels' Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) PLANS are in progress to transform an iconic Glasgow building into one of Europe's "finest" hotels. The B-listed 95 Bothwell Street building in the city centre is understood to be mostly empty. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 1 Plans have been lodged with Glasgow City Council to transform 95 Bothwell Street Credit: Google Maps It's one of Glasgow's biggest American Classical-style commercial buildings. Proposals to turn it into a 235-room hotel have been submitted to the council. But details about the hotel company eyeing to take over the building have been kept under wraps. A statement about the proposed design read: 'The proposed confidential hotel operator is particularly excited about the potential provided by the building to create a best-in-class hotel of distinction, which they anticipate will be one of the finest in their operator's European portfolio. 'The listed building is soon to become entirely unoccupied. The commercial office use for which the building was built and designed is no longer viable. "The building has early indications of corrosion of the structural steel frame, which needs to be addressed to prevent damage to the significant external masonry façade. 'The proposed development is conservation-led and will integrate and repurpose the significant parts of the listed building into the new hotel use, whilst retaining its external appearance and presence within the street.' HFD Property Group Limited has lodged a planning permission request to alter the use of the building from 'offices at upper floors and restaurant/cafe and retail on ground floor to hotel". The proposals also include constructing a two-storey roof extension. Glasgow City Council is considering the application.
The Herald Scotland
3 days ago
- The Herald Scotland
Once beloved of young girls, what has gone wrong with Claire's?
Claire's has been a staple on high streets across the UK and Ireland, since it first opened in Britain in 1997. It was the first shop my friends and I would run to after getting our £5 pocket money from our parents back in 2010 but, as we got older, we left it behind. Hearing of the closure, I couldn't help but feel sad, a part of my childhood was being taken away so I headed down to my local shopping centre, Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow, to see what's changed. Turns out, it's nothing. The shop looked as if it had been standing still in time since my last visit in 2018. Same purple interior, same packaging, same bright pencil cases and toys that cover the shop wall to wall. Sitting across from one of its competitors, Lovisa, whose stores are designed in a minimalist, luxury style, Claire's looked like a cluttered mess. Worse, while it was full of displays and posters for deals it was devoid of customers. So why aren't people shopping here anymore? While in the store, I reached for a white flower hair clip, nice, but nothing special. Turning it over to check the price, it quickly got put back. With the rise of Chinese online companies like Shien and Temu, it's hard to justify £6 for one hair clip when you can buy three identical-looking ones for only £2 online. I checked out a pair of cat ears on an early Halloween stall which were £8. Even those who don't shop online at cheap e-tailers know this is extortionate, one Google search later and a similar pair of ears was on my phone for £2.50 from Sainsbury's. Even the pencil cases were priced at over tenner. If I was going back to school, I know my mum wouldn't have let me go near them and would have me pick something from ASDA instead. Claire's reputation took a hit when stories of piercings gone wrong surfaced. As someone with many piercings, one of which closed over after I got it from Claire's, I think the retailer made a major strategic mistake here. The use of guns can cause swelling, longer healing times and potential complications due to blunt force trauma. When I passed my driving test, I wanted to celebrate. I made my way to Claire's and got my first cartilage piercing. It never healed. I had to take it out three months later. I spoke to a former customer who said: "I knew loads of people with infections and swore I'd never go back". Their Instagram and TikTok come across as lazy and uninspired. The two social media are a copy of one another. Instagram is an unorganised mess, posts look unprofessional, with dark lighting and low quality. @Clairesstores have eight highlights that are random and inconsistent. One highlight, 'Wicked' has only 2 posts, both of which are from last year. Scrolling through, I found only one professional-looking post, where they used fruit wedges to model different ear jewellery during summer. That was well done but it needs more of that. After my shop and scroll, it's no surprise Claire's is failing. A rebrand should have commenced years ago. Prices need to be realistic to attract pocket-money customers. The shops, of which there are 278 in the UK, can still be an easy go-to when you need some last minute hair gems, but that's often a last resort when there's no time to buy them off Amazon. And that's just not good enough.
