A new £400,000 project to "improve the look and feel" of Glasgow city centre has been approved by Glasgow City Council.
The City Centre Rapid Repairs pilot programme will address perceptions of the city centre’s look and feel by carrying out rapid repairs to small-scale but high impact streetscape issues in public space in the area, the council said.
The pilot will primarily target the public realm (such as road and pavement remedial works) in commercial areas of the city centre.
Priority areas will include zones around transport hubs and stations, and principal routes in and around office areas and key retail destinations.
Seen as a new approach to public realm management, the pilot will operate as an addition to any planned maintenance works being undertaken by the council. The work itself includes repairs or replacement of pavement slabs, street furniture, lighting and bollards, removal of lighting stickers/flyposting and offensive graffiti, street washing, and/or other measures that improve key routes and spaces.
READ MORE:
Glasgow underpass transformed by vibrant community-inspired mural
Council sells former city school site to housing developer
New Glasgow fund aims to 'bring new life to empty units'
The pilot is funded from city centre developer contributions and City Centre Strategy funding (£200,000 for each source).
The scheme is predominantly intended to provide a fast response to smaller, compact areas - an average street would be at the very upper limit of size in terms of eligibility - that appear neglected or which show poor-quality public realm features that are undermining investment opportunities in target areas.
The City Centre Rapid Repairs pilot will begin in January 2025 and last as a trial for one year.
Councillor Angus Millar, Convener for City Centre Recovery at Glasgow City Council, said: “We know that relatively small defects in the public realm such as issues with pavements and street furniture can have an outsized impact on the look and feel of the city centre. This new approach will allow us to respond more quickly to such issues where they arise to create a more attractive city centre for everyone and further support investment into Glasgow.”
Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “This pilot is a welcome initiative that will not only enhance the aesthetics of Glasgow’s city centre but also demonstrates the city’s commitment to creating a more attractive and vibrant environment for visitors, businesses and investors.
"By proactively addressing small but impactful issues quickly, this scheme has the potential to unlock new opportunities for growth and regeneration, driving confidence in the city’s future. We encourage members to actively engage and to make proposals for improvements.”
Simon Walsh from the Glasgow Development Forum, said: “The City Centre Rapid Repair project is welcomed by the Glasgow Development Forum. The pilot project will contribute to towards other initiatives which aim to improve the appeal of Glasgow city centre. The project will improve the look and feel of the city Centre not only for potential investors but for existing business and commercial stakeholders, residents and visitors alike.”
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 here