A senior figure from the commercial property sector in Scotland has called for clarity on the “vision” for Glasgow amid ongoing unease over the condition of the city centre, while highlighting the challenge involved in retrofitting older office buildings to the highest modern standards.
The state of Scotland’s biggest city has been a source of debate in the aftermath of the pandemic, with footfall continuing to lag pre-Covid levels, anger over the state of the public realm, and unrest in some quarters over local authority policies to reduce car usage.
Gillian Stewart, a director of Michael Laird Architects and chair of the British Council for Offices in Scotland, called on Glasgow City Council to be clearer about its plan for the city.
“Currently, it is not great,” she told The Herald, when asked to comment on the current state of Glasgow city centre.
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“There is a real lack of care in the city centre and the general condition of the public realm is just embarrassing. And I’m a ‘Weegie’. I love my city. I am proud to live and work in Glasgow, but the lack of care or consideration for people in the city centre is just woeful.
“I actually quite often don’t feel safe in the city centre. Having been a student here at the Art School in the ‘80s, I never felt like that. And I have felt unsafe in Glasgow recently. That is not a good situation to be in. How on earth are we going to attract people back into the city centre because if it is a scary walk from Central Station to your office building, you won’t go in.”
Ms Stewart, who studied interior design at Glasgow School of Art, criticised the city council for not being clearer about the aims of the protracted works to improve the landscaping of Sauchiehall Street, and how long the project will take. “Join the dots, actually communicate what you are doing,” she said.
Gillian Stewart of Michael Laird Architects and the British Council for Offices
“Get a stand in George Square and tell us about it. Have something that says ‘this is what our vision for Glasgow is’, so that we believe it.”
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Much of the public conversation about Glasgow has centred around breathing life into older buildings, whether for office, residential, or leisure use. But Ms Stewart said this was easier said than done. Retrofitting older property to ensure it complies with modern regulations comes at a high cost and it can be more attractive for developers to construct new buildings than refurbish existing ones.
“It is hard, it is a real challenge, and it is expensive,” Ms Stewart said.
“One of our architects was saying [that] essentially you have to rip them to bits to get them to comply with new building regulations that are much more [based on] sustainable energy use and insulation requirements, so that the glazing will comply, the insulation in the walls and roof will comply.
“Typically, the life cycle of mechanical and electrical services, so that is air, heat, lighting, is 25 years. So basically you have to rip all that out and start again.”
Ms Stewart also observed that while value-added tax (VAT) is not levied on new building projects, it is applied to refurbishments. “So it is a double whammy. You have got to rip them to bits, start again virtually with a concrete shell or steel structure, and you have to pay VAT as well," she said.
READ MORE: Boost for Glasgow as major firms flock to Bothwell Street
“Also, existing buildings are riskier because you don’t know what has happened to them across their lives.”
Earlier this year, the office market on Glasgow was buoyed when three high-profile companies - PwC, RSM, and Edrington - committed to new lettings on Bothwell Street, while JPMorgan Chase officially opened its new purpose-built office on Argyle Street in the International Financial Services District. Ms Stewart explained that big companies will always be drawn to high-quality office stock.
“The more we tackle refurbishing existing buildings, the more lessons we will learn, and there will be a wider body of experience of what is easy to do and what is hard,” she said.
“Most large corporates have got very strong ESG (environmental, social, governance) requirements as part of their corporate governance and that is why they end up taking high-end, more expensive, but very compliant space. They have to. That is why they are flocking to quality in Bothwell Street.”
The BCO and Skypark, the business park based in the city's Finnieston area, recently held an event titled 'Rethinking and Reimagining Glasgow' which sought to take a long-term view of the city. Facilitated by Ms Stewart, it featured contributions from Adam Purvis of Dark Matters Laboratories, Nicola Cameron of the University of Glasgow, Andy McBain of NatWest Group, Michael Gallacher of Abstract Securities, Graham Robertson of WorkingRite and Angela Higgins, Skypark's strategic lettings advisor to Federated Hermes.
Ms Stewart said one of the themes that emerged strongly was that society needs buildings “that can do more than one thing”.
She said: “What we experience and know now is not going to be the same in 10 years’ time, so we are going to have to try and future-proof what we build, or think about opportunities for reusing, refurbishing and regenerating some of the buildings that we have got generally.”
Glasgow City Council was approached for comment.
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