New owner of Glasgow city landmark unveils £30m plan

A £30 million transformation programme for a landmark Glasgow building has been unveiled by its new owner.

The 14-storey Met Tower has been acquired by Bruntwood Scitech from property developer Osborne+co for £16.2m. The investment programme is aimed at turning the building, which has lain vacant since 2014, into a new hub for “tech and digital businesses”.

The former College of Building and Printing tower was covered with a huge “People Make Glasgow” graphics wrap for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Bruntwood Scitech, a joint venture between investor and developer Bruntwood and financial giant Legal & General, plans a hub where university spinouts, start-ups, scale-ups, and

“large leading tech businesses” can “co-locate together and benefit from being in an innovative, collaborative tech cluster”.

Work is expected to start later this year, subject to planning permission, and to be completed in 2024.

Kate Lawlor, chief executive of Bruntwood Scitech, said: “Glasgow has one of Europe’s most exciting, diverse tech and digital clusters with exceptional higher education institutions and clinical assets. Met Tower is perfectly placed to help create a hub in which these businesses can scale, co-innovate and thrive. Met Tower is a Glasgow landmark in a brilliant location for innovative tech and digital businesses.”

The planned transformation will create 113,000 sq ft of co-working, serviced and leased office space, and a shared break-out area on the ground floor, as well as a rooftop lounge and a cafe.

Businesses based at Met Tower will be able to access Bruntwood Scitech’s Uk-wide network of innovation districts, allowing them to collaborate with a 500-strong specialist community of tech and science enterprises.