Fresh proposal to scrap Old College Bar for more flats
ANOTHER vision for a controversial site near Glasgow Cross is being submitted for approval. The site at the corner of High Street and George Street, which includes the Old College Bar, has been the cause for debate and previous rejected plans, given its historic location at the heart of Glasgow’s oldest streets.
The plan by Structured House will go before planners and councillors for a decision.
The latest proposal involves an 11-storey building with 239 flats running along High Street and George Street.
Like in a previous design, it will include demolishing the Old College Bar, but after an agreement with the owner Colin Beattie, features from inside the bar will be salvaged and a new bar re-created within the development.
The new plan is for a mixture of studio, one and two-bedroom flats to be provided along with a number of shared amenity spaces.
It includes a colonnaded ground floor and a metal frieze separating the ground and first floors with artwork by artist Toby Paterson.
A design statement submitted for the proposal states: “This high-quality level of detail at street level will enhance the immediate public realm, adding interest and scale to the colonnaded ground floor.
“The Old College Bar sits small and largely insignificant within the urban landscape. Alongside the building it adjoins, it detracts from the streetscape, sitting semi-derelict at the edge of the busy High Street.
“The building is unlisted and exists in a poor state. Despite its condition, the building holds special significance for the local community and, following discussions with the owner, Colin Beattie, the bar will be reinstated in its original location, occupying an enlarged area within units three and four on the ground floor.”
The development, if approved, would replace a semi-derelict three-storey corner block of shops and the existing Old College Bar.
It would sit beside the distinctive and historic Linen Bank Building on High Street and run to the corner and along George Street.
To the rear of the building would be new green space which the developers say will incorporate the Greyfriars Garden that was created as part of the council’s stalled spaces project.
Previous designs, including one for student flats, have been ruled out after objections about more student flats in the areas and being out of character with the surroundings.
One previous plan, Merchant Point, was for a £40 million 12-storey development of 401 privately rented student bedrooms in 2018.
After the student flats plan was scrapped, the following year another plan – for more than 200 rental apartments on 10 floors – was proposed, with a “lifestyle lounge” area on the ground floor open to the public plus a coffee bar.