Glasgow Fort Shopping Centre could be getting a major expansion. What does that mean for footfall recovery in the city centre?
The Housing Crisis has pitted owners and renters, developers and affordability campaigners against each other. Is there a solution?
Vita Group were finally granted consent to demolish the listed building after leaving it open to the elements six years on since it was fire-ravaged, “with no form of monitoring or maintenance being undertaken by the owners”.
To transform such a lonely space into a free sports hub, naturally sheltered from the rain for year-round use, is an incredible prospect. Particularly since it borders Govanhill, home to the highest child poverty rate in the UK. If built, it will have a seriously positive impact on neighbouring families.
Inside the urban planning offices of Glasgow City Council since time immemorial, fluorescent lights buzz and flicker. It’s too hot in winter, too cold in summer. Keyboards clack, computers hum. And Rip it Up by Orange Juice pulses through a built-in loudspeaker on repeat. Rip it up and start again. Rip it up and start again. Rip it up and start again. Into eternity. I’ve never been inside the council’s planning offices but I’m confident this is what I would find inside. Regardless of the decade.
It's tempting to fantasize about some hotshot swooping in to fix the Glasgow City Region with a shiny new mayor badge. Someone who lives and breathes the city. A champion to change the negative aura slinking low over our rolling brownfields and crumbling buildings.
The Scottish Parliament was introduced in 1999 to devolve powers from Westminster and give greater autonomy to Scots. But these days it seems like every attempt at meaningful public sector conversation is turned into a Three Spiderman Pointing meme starring a council, the Scottish Government and the UK Government.
It was meant to be a bonnie stroll along the River Clyde. Little did the couple know they had meandered into the underbelly of Scotland’s largest city. Public enemy territory. Still haunted by the city centre Clydeside two weeks on, Councillor James Scanlon demanded action.
But wait a minute. Wait just a minute. I thought Glasgow needed 22,000 student beds? Isn’t that why we keep approving all of these high-end Purpose-Built Student Accommodation (PBSA) blocks? Isn’t that why the local authority has agreed to let foreign developers rip up our built heritage? If I strain my ears from the office I can almost hear a Kubota digger scraping desperately against the cast iron arch of the former ABC cinema on Sauchiehall Street.
In August, Edinburgh became the first Scottish council to vote for a ban on the use of fireworks in certain areas: Niddrie, Balerno, Seafield and Calton Hill. Glasgow City Council announced this week that Pollokshields would be the first FCZ in the city. At least Edinburgh has Fawkes Festival. Meanwhile, Scotland’s largest city has tried to quietly quit hosting anything for Bonfire Night.
