The owner of Glasgow’s landmark Met Tower building has announced plans to double the size of its proposed science and technology hub at the former College of Building and Printing.
The 14-storey Met Tower, which has been covered with a huge “People Make Glasgow” graphics wrap since the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was acquired by Bruntwood SciTech in May. The specialist property developer’s initial plans were to redevelop the Grade B listed building, which has been vacant for the last nine years, into 113,000sq ft of co-working space for expanding tech and digital businesses.
That original £30 million investment proposal, which included the £16.2m purchase price, has now doubled to £60m with a second phase of an additional 100,000sq ft of workspace at an adjacent site to the Met Tower. There are also plans for a new publicly-accessible landscaped plaza between the two buildings.
READ MORE: Landmark People Make Glasgow wrap building to undergo £30m transformation
“The Scottish digital and tech sector is experiencing rapid growth and this £60m investment into Glasgow is testament to our long-term commitment,” Bruntwood SciTech director Pete Crowther said.
“There is a real opportunity here to not only create a new tech cluster at Met Tower and in our new building but also support local businesses and communities across the west of Scotland. Above the physical spaces we are introducing, we’re also committed to creating opportunities for businesses across the UK so they can collaborate and innovate as the sector continues to thrive.”
Bruntwood SciTech is a joint venture between Manchester-based property company Bruntwood and financial services group Legal & General. Its network of innovation districts spans 11 campuses across England, with the Met Tower to be its first in Scotland.
A public consultation on the proposals will take place at the end of this month. Work will begin in the autumn subject to planning permission, with the development expected to open in 2026.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel