Billion- pound project takes inspiration from School of Art
A NEW billion- pound waterfront development in Tradeston will be inspired by the design of Glasgow School of Art.
Detailed plans have been unvei led for Buchanan Wharf, which is expected to create thousands of jobs for the city and will be built across three blocks on the banks of the Clyde.
Grid- like windows on sections of the buildings pay homage to Glasgow School of Art, which was designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and is in the midst of a painstaking dismantling process, after this year’s fire.
Others will draw inspiration from Kingston House – a listed building which is to be retained as a standing ruin in t h e c e n t r e o f t h e development.
An industrial design with rustic colours will feature on the facades, a nod to the commercial past of the area.
When it is complete, it will bring thousands of jobs – Barclays alone will bring around 2,500 new posts.
Plans for the new blocks – one of which Barclays announced it will be moving into – will be decided on by Glasgow City Council officials in coming months.
A spokesperson for the developers, Drum Property Group, said: “We have now submitted detailed planning applications for the first two office buildings for the new state- of- the- art campus for Barclays Bank at Buchanan Wharf.
“Buildings one and two at Buchanan Wharf will provide 115,000 sq. ft and 205,000 sq. ft respectively of prime Grade A office space.
“Further detailed applications will follow shortly.”
One city councillor, Frank Docherty, said the whole process of constructing and finishing could be worth more than 10,000 jobs.
It is speculated to be one of Scotland’s biggest ever developments and worth more than a billion pounds.
When complete, it will have office and retail space, as well as hundreds of flats and new public squares.
In May, it was suggested by Tom Turley, the council’s assistant director for Development and Regeneration Services, building could start in October.
Drum’s spokesman added: “The Buchanan Wharf site will deliver more than a million square feet of office space, residential accommodation and a mix of local amenities and landscaped public spaces.
“These applications herald the start of a landmark development project that will transform not just this neglected part of the waterfront but the entire city centre of Glasgow, once again placing the Clyde at the heart of the city’s economic and cultural regeneration.”
A design statement for plans tells how a variety of facade
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on Facebook or Twitter types are proposed throughout buildings one and two.
It states: “These façade types help break up the massing of the buildings, create a richness in form and provide a balanced contrast around each of the buildings.
“Common elements, established in the architectural framework allow these differing facade types to link together and provide a cohesive building.
“The common themes evident in the building one and two proposals include: A strong ground floor datum, generous window to wall ratio, repeating window pattern and a 1.9m gridded facade.”