Deadline looms for £30k Barras regeneration bid
A £30,000 scheme dubbed to breathe life back in to the Barras Market has entered the last month of considering applications to set up shop in the famous East End strip.
Offering businesses a chance to hire out a space along the street the initiative called Stalled Spaces aims to fill the space that have lay empty for years.
With applications for the first instalment of the project to be submitted by May 5, the deadline is fast-approaching.
The project aims to promote the use of the area and support Glasgow City Council’s vision of creating a market space that has a varied mix of small businesses to enhance the amount of trading. It wants businesses and groups to fill empty shop spaces as well as take events out on to the street.
It also aims to attract new activities to the area and re-create the positive, bustling image once associated with the Barras.
Each applicant can be offered up to £4500 in grant money to get their idea off the ground and set up shop when the project gets underway in late June.
The project is part of the council’s masterplan for the area which says: “The Barras Masterplan was commissioned to provide a means of influencing future development and interventions through a placemaking approach that retains the market and retail function but allows for the introduction of different uses over time.
“All grants must be spent by end of financial year or March 31, next year.”
A council spokesman said: “The Barras plays a unique role in the city’s history, and while we are developing plans for both it and the surrounding area through Glasgow City Region City Deal funding, this Stalled Spaces funding offers an opportunity for local people and groups with creative ideas the chance to make a real change in the area.”
The project comes after the further upgrades were set for a site in the same area which used to be derelict.
The group Barras Art & Design (BAaD) announced it was launching a new 4000ft al fresco area called Backyard made completely out of old shipping containers.
Opening on Saturday, April 15, it will feature an elevated deck, a variety of workspaces, gourmet food trucks, graffiti art and additional terrace seating.
Located i n the Barras, BAaD’s space multi-purpose events space already includes an indoor heated courtyard, an on-site seafood restaurant, a cook school and a number of smaller businesses, including the Braw Wee Emporium and Glasgow Furniture Collective.
Brian Traynor, from BAaD, said the official opening of Backyard will continue its work in cultivating the East End scene.