A NEW tide of property development is tugging at the piers and wharves of Glasgow's waterfront. After a long period of neglect, the former Garden Festival site on the south bank of the river now offers the property market its first building.

Developed by a partnership comprising Miller, Grosvenor, and CTP, an impressive 30,000sq ft office pavilion now stands ready for occupation.

The project completes the first phase of a scheme which could extend to 350,000sq ft in five separate buildings, some of them grouped along the waterfront.

Pacific Quay, as the site is now called, attracted the attention of Barclays Bank, who came close to taking space for a large call centre before being won over by Enterprise Zone tax perks available in the North East of England.

Joint letting agents for Pacific Quay are Jones Lang Wootton and Hillier Parker.

The site is set to benefit from the #71m Science Centre, which is now under development just a short distance downstream.

The scheme represents the largest single-site development to be backed by the Millennium Commission in Scotland. Some #35m is being provided by the commission, and the balance from a variety of funders.

Elements will include a 100-metre high Millennium Tower and a futuristic Imax cinema.

The Glasgow Development Agency is predicting that the Science Centre will attract some 625,000 visitors a year.