New distillery and other developments are not enough to transform the Glasgow's riverside, say experts

Last month, planning permission was granted for the second phase of the Glasgow Harbour complex of luxury flats where a new “leisure destination” by property developer Peel Holdings is set to include more than 100 retail stores, restaurants and cafes, a cinema, gym, waterfront promenade, and public square.

Across the river in Govan a battle is being fought over the derelict Graving dry docks, built in the 19th century to service ships when Glasgow was one of the world’s major ports. Developer New City Vision is proposing flats, a hotel and office space. Meanwhile, entrepreneur Jim McColl’s engineering firm Ferguson Marine has submitted plans that would see it used as a working dock with an onsite marine museum.

Glasgow City Council plans to build a footbridge joining Govan and the west end. Then there is bank Barclays' plan for a “tech hub” in Tradeston, while the SEC has proposed a new extension. Laid out together, the plans fizz with possibility. A spokesman for Glasgow City Council says they reflect the return of the river “to playing a central role in the economic and social life of Glasgow”.

“The council has led efforts in attracting significant levels of investment back to the river to regenerate the city and help drive our economic growth,” he says. “The River Clyde is already being developed with reference to best practice across the globe and the wishes of our local communities.”

Yet all the proposals have their critics, and many feel their wishes have not been asked for, never mind acted upon. What is the reality?

On a sullen summer day, grey clouds grudgingly withholding rain, the banks of the Clyde are almost deserted. Running through the middle of the Glasgow – the river flows from Leadhills all the way to the sea, as the Clyde song tells us – it has been integral to the development of the city.

In the 17th century it was shallow and meandering. At low tide you could walk across to the then-separate parish of Govan. But, explains maritime historian Ian Johnston: “The city fathers realised if Glasgow was going to have a future they had to set about making the river navigable.” The dredgers and blasters were brought in, making way for the ships that would bring tobacco and cotton, slave-reliant industries on which Glasgow was largely built. Then came the manufacture of ships and steam engines. “At one time it was building about one-third of the ships in the world,” says Johnston.

Signs of decline were showing by the 1930s, though the war revived the order books. The writing was on the wall in the 1960s and 20 years later most of the yards were closed. For a while it fell almost silent. Now there is life again in pockets. On sunny lunchtimes grassy slopes and benches along the city centre section of the front are crammed with office workers, joggers and cyclists. But approaching the Kingston Bridge, where the M8 crosses the river, there is the first swathe of vacant land, “a major pre-let waterfront development opportunity”, according a billboard. Next are car parks, more vacant land, and the rusting Finnieston Crane surrounded by fencing.

There’s also the SEC, developed in 1985, the Hydro, Pacific Quay on the south bank with the BBC, STV, the Science Centre. Yet around the Riverside Museum is more abandoned land, the ubiquitous browning buddleia poking through the fencing. The only shipbuilding happens down river by BAE systems and Ferguson. Warships are the main line of business.

There has been interest in the new industry offered by the waterfront distilleries. “The distilleries are great to see,” says Johnston. “But they are not in any way comparable. The Clyde could be remarkably positive for the city if it was exploited properly.” He claims there is a lack of vision.

Clydeside Distillery owner Tim Morrison disagrees. He ended up in the historic former old Pumphouse, just up from the Riverside, after another deal fell through and only afterwards discovered that his ancestor, John Morrison, built the Queen's Dock where it sits in 1836. The front of the building has been beautifully resorted, a modern glass and steel extension added, through which the copper stills can be seen. This was not in the original plans, which were for restoration only. Those, he says, were rejected in favour of something “more iconic” and in keeping with the rest of the waterfront. “They wanted us to create something that was a little more like the Hydro and the transport museum so there was an idea of modernity.”

He believes those looking for more need to be patient, and celebrate the positives. We believe hotels should be built if that’s what the city needs, without forgetting the heritage. “If we’re going to attract tourists to Glasgow we need to give them accommodation,” he says. “But we also need to give them opportunities to view history.”

Paul Sweeney, Labour MP for Glasgow North East is less willing to sit by patiently. He is frustrated by the way “landbanking” by property waterfront developers has gone unchecked for decades. Now Susan Aitken, council leader since the SNP took minority control last year, is aiming to map ownership but experts admit its likely to be a fraught and lengthy process.

“If you walk along the river it’s just a sterile urban environment,” Sweeney says. “What is really lacking is any kind of masterplanning for the Clyde. There has been a lack of any real coherent vision for years.” Legislation to give councils, including Glasgow, this power was the recommendation of a report by the Scottish Land Commission published last week and this, he claims, is a route the council should urgently investigate.

Andrew McAvoy, a Glasgow architect who has worked on projects in Govan and the former Polish shipbuilding city of Gdansk, is concerned that Glasgow’s industrial shipbuilding heritage is being lost. In Gdansk, one former shipyard is now a heritage site. In Glasgow, instead of preserving the Graving docks, the site has been filled with rubble.

He suggests there’s emotion at play here too. Perhaps – with the glory days behind it – we just can’t face the Clyde. “The river is something we have turned our backs on and left for an isolated few to look at from their apartments,” he says. “When the river went into decline it was a rough time for people. For decades it has represented the fears of our apprentice fathers and uncles.” As a result we don’t know how to interact with it, he says.

Fiona MacLeod, convener of the Glasgow Coastal Rowing Club, agrees that there’s not enough discussion about the river itself in all of this. “It’s a massively under-used resource,” she says. “So few people are able to access it.” The club gets free space at the pontoon outside the Riverside Museum in return of volunteering for the Clyde Maritime Trust. But there is no local boat shed, so boats sit in water all winter long. People using the slipways that exist must have a code – these are tightly controlled for safety reasons. “There are other slipways but they are in a bad state of repair,” adds MacLeod. “There’s a real lack of infrastructure on the Clyde.”

Jude Barber, architect-director of Collective Architecture, thinks that’s a shame. “The river is wound up with the very origins of the city,” she says. “It’s our oldest heritage asset.”

She claims there’s too much emphasis on “iconic” buildings – punctuating like exclamation marks along Glasgow’s river banks. Instead she would like to see more coherent and less flashy development focused on public access, health and wellbeing.

But she is becoming increasingly aware of the bigger issues. “At first I assumed that the city had control over the water and the sites that run along the river front,” she explains. “But in fact that’s not really the case. Until Glasgow as a city has the authority to meaningfully control and manage the development of the Clyde it will continue to happen in this piecemeal way.”

Collective is currently working on the development of Water Row, in Govan, which has not been without its complexities and controversies. The Subway tunnel runs below the site, historic buildings are to be retained and showpeople living in traditional yards by the river claim they are being evicted from their community in the name of progress that doesn’t seem to have factored them in.

But Barber says proposals for Water Row, one of the few council-owned sites on the river front, are more sympathetic than the “walls of flats” put up in bigger developments, such as Glasgow Harbour, which do nothing for the community at large.

She remains hopeful. Former industrial cities like Copenhagen and Helsinki have found a way to revitalise their waterfronts, she argues. “They weren’t the most liveable cities at one time but they applied strategic planning, leadership and vision. It’s not impossible. Glasgow can do this.”

Cities on the water

Bristol: its harbourside development was once a busy dock where sailors and merchants would trade goods and set off on global voyages. Now there are shops and restaurants as well as arts venues, an aquarium and permanent exhibits explaining the history.There's also a market, a public square with a fountain, while on the river there is a ferry, paddle boarding, yachting and rowing.

Hamburg: For a long time the shipbuilding districts of Hamburg were “no-go areas”. Development started with the “string of pearls” approach – create a number of attractions and hope market forces will help fill in the gaps. But it was the meticulously planned development of HafenCity that was the game-changer, connecting the city centre with the river. Infrastructure such as schools and community centres was factored into plans for offices, shops and housing.

Lisbon: Like many European ports, Lisbon had turned its back on the tangle of docks and wharves it now considered redundant. But regeneration has transformed the port area with industrial warehouses used to house galleries, start-ups, shops and other businesses. There are markets and a cable car, and ferries, sail boats, cruise and cargo ships ply the River Tagus every day.