Evening Times, by Iain Lundy
Plans for a 900-flat development in a run-down area near
the Kingston Bridge are expected to be given the go-ahead
tomorrow.
The apartments will transform the "eyesore" site at Cheapside
Street and Warroch Street, beside where a former newspaper building
stood.
The £180million project, known as City Wharf, will see four
22-storey housing blocks and will include 18,500 sq metres of
office and commercial space.
It is being led by housebuilder Dandara, one of the companies
behind the development of the Glasgow Harbour housing project at
Partick.
The site was formerly occupied by a council-run homeless hostel,
a pub and a number of warehouses.
It was also the site of the Cheapside Street disaster of 1960
when 14 firemen and five members of the Glasgow Salvage Corps lost
their lives in a blaze in a whisky bond.
Glasgow city councillors are to consider the application - for a
total of 853 flats - at tomorrow's planning applications
committee.
A report to the committee describes the site as being "in a poor
state" with vacant land and a number of industrial units.
It states that the area under the Kingston Bridge is "singularly
uninviting" and "one of the main obstacles in getting pedestrians
to walk to the city centre from the SECC".
Under the proposals, two L-shaped office blocks would be built
as well as four blocks of housing.
There would also be shops, parking, amenity areas, and
landscaping If councillors approve the plans the developers say
they will fund £500,000 of environmental improvements for
pedestrians under the Kingston Bridge.
Council officials have recommended the plan is granted subject
to conditions.
These include meeting the cost of improvements to the road and
public infrastructure.
Dandara hope the makeover will be a major regeneration boost to
an area regarded as "seedy" and connect the site to the burgeoning
Financial District.
Managing director Peter Lackey said: "This new venture will
provide quality office, retail and residential property to the
market."
Land to the west, the site of the former Daily Record building,
is owned by developer Akeler, which earlier this year received
planning permission for a £90million offices and a hotel
project.
Reproduced with kind permission from Iain Lundy