EXISTING LANDSCAPE
ACTIVE GREEN DEVELOPMENTS
Restructuring our economy through sustainable, inclusive growth
The Clyde Mission is a place-based regional approach to economic development which seeks to recognise and use the River Clyde as a national, strategic asset.
Its relatively small boundary area contributes disproportionately to the regional and national economy in a number of ways. While it accounts for only around 8% of the land area in Glasgow City Region, it includes a high number of jobs in the area (the 500 metre corridor next to the river represents around 16% of the jobs in the region), population (around 9% of the region), and number of businesses (around 15% of business sites in the region). It supports clusters of high value industry with growth potential, including advanced engineering, low carbon, maritime and space technologies.
As the biggest investment opportunity in Western Europe, Clyde Mission will transform a riverside corridor running from Glasgow city centre to the sea, spanning an area of 1,000 hectares, drawing together ambitious initiatives for green transport and renewable energy and freeing up large tracts of land in key locations for development.
The project will build on and elevate extensive progress in the area and work underway funded by the £1 billion City Deal to re-connect disconnected communities, decontaminate large tracts of ex-industrial sites along the banks, and to provide better active transport links and the enabling infrastructure for the Region’s emerging Innovation Districts which are of national significance and which fall within the corridor.
A number of new bridges are planned or in progress. A bridge at Govan will provide a link over the river for the emerging Glasgow Riverside Innovation District corridor, and bring together two currently distinct communities and unlock the development potential of vacant and derelict sites for jobs and housing. The project will also enhance clustering and stimulate growth in the Life Science and Higher Education sectors.
The Financial Services sector, crucial to Glasgow and the wider Region’s rebirth and resilience in recent years, will have a further boost with the build completion this year for the most significant inward investment ever made in Scotland. The new Barclays Glasgow Campus will bring 2,500 new jobs and breathe new life into an area south of the river which despite its proximity to the city centre has suffered through de-industrialisation with the loss of much of its population and economic base.
At Queens Quay, a high-tech district heating network extracting heat from the river water is operational in Clydebank and will be expanded.
Climate change and rising sea levels increase the risk of flooding along sections of the banks. An engineering solution in the form of a tidal barrage would protect land and generate clean energy, contributing to making the Clyde more usable and developable.
Glasgow is working in partnership with the Scottish Government on plans for Clyde Mission which could support a green recovery for the City Region and be a driver for a genuine economic recovery in the rest of Scotland. Over £13 million has been allocated to a range of initiatives across sectors, and a further £25 million is committed to developing low carbon heat and energy solutions.
Constructing a sustainable built environment
177 Bothwell Street
177 Bothwell Street is set to become Glasgow’s largest single office building with the façade predominantly made from recyclable glass and aluminium. An EPC rating of ‘A’ and BREEAM ‘Excellent’ standard has been targeted and it will become the first development in Scotland – and among the first 70 in the world – to achieve the new independently-verified global gold standard for smart buildings. In light of COVID-19, a series of enhanced design features have been announced focussed on hygiene, health and wellbeing, removing many of the building’s ‘touch points’ and using technology to simplify occupiers’ experience of the building. An independent economic impact assessment concluded that the development will generate £2.8 billion of gross value added (GVA) to the Scottish economy over 25 years.
Cadworks
Cadworks aims to be one of the most sustainable buildings in Scotland. It has been designed with the health and wellbeing of the occupier front of mind, but is equally committed to improving the wellbeing of the wider community. It is a 96,000 square foot highly sustainable ‘Grade A’ office development for Glasgow City Centre due to complete in the third quarter of 2021. As Glasgow’s most green office development, offering the country’s only cycle-in access ramp and the City’s most comprehensive facilities for cyclists, it is targeting a BREEAM rating of ‘Excellent’ and an EPC ‘A’ rating and has also been awarded a WiredScore ‘Platinum’ accolade for its hyper-connectivity. The development will embody a new way of designing commercial space, one where social responsibility and ethics can be powerful drivers of returns on investment.
Designing an attractive, sustainable and climate-resilient public realm
The City Centre Avenues Project is redesigning and breathing life back into some of Glasgow’s most important streets with a focus on people-centred approaches. It will support communities in areas of deprivation to access high quality places where there are opportunities for healthy living and access to training and work. Improving the environment, it is set to introduce green infrastructure that improves air quality, reduces carbon emissions and creates healthier, greener spaces for people to enjoy. It will create pedestrian and cycle priority routes to connected key areas within the city centre and to surrounding neighbourhoods. It will be designed to create a relaxed city centre environment that promotes high volumes of footfall and encourages people to dwell longer. Finally, it will demonstrate clear commitment to the retail, commerce and leisure sectors and help create a city that is more attractive for investors and developers.
Creating high quality, low carbon living
The £250 million Sighthill Transformational Regeneration Area (TRA) is the biggest such project in the UK outside of London. When complete, the project will have created a new neighbourhood on the north side of the city centre, just 15 minutes’ walk from George Square at the city’s heart. Some of the features of the regenerated area will include: new housing (almost 1000 homes, with 141 already in place); a new community campus school; a new pedestrian and cyclist bridge over the M8 motorway improving the connections between Sighthill and the city centre, and a road-bridge over the Glasgow-Edinburgh railway line improving the connections with neighbouring communities. The parkland and the green-space of the area will also be significantly improved, and a new public square, new shops and commercial space will be created. Land remediation now complete has made the delivery of these new features possible. The project is a partnership between Glasgow City Council, Glasgow Housing Association and the Scottish Government.
Decarbonising heavy transport and accelerating modal shift to public transport
First Bus has announced that over £59 million will be invested in new fully-electric and zero emission vehicles for the city of Glasgow. The new buses are scheduled to be introduced to the Glasgow city bus network by December 2022, following a successful bid in Transport Scotland’s latest round of Scottish Ultra Low Emission Bus (SULEB) funding. The successful bid awards First Glasgow, the city’s largest bus operator, £24.3 million, and First Bus has committed to spend a further £35.6 million. The investment will bring a further 126 electric single and double-decker vehicles to the city, adding to the 22 new electric buses that are scheduled to take to the streets of Glasgow before the city hosts the UN’s annual climate change conference, COP26, this November. The addition of 126 new electric vehicles (EVs) will take the total number of EVs operating in Glasgow to 150, nearly 20% of the total First Glasgow fleet, to help meet Glasgow City Council’s Low Emission Zone standard by the end of 2022.
Decarbonising our housing stock
Glasgow City Council has received £4.75 million from Energy Efficient Scotland to retrofit homes and reduce fuel poverty across the city. An estimated 72,000 households in Glasgow were fuel poor in 2018, meaning more than 10% of their disposable household income was spent on fuel. In a bid to ensure that no more than 5% of Scottish homes are in fuel poverty by 2040, and to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions, Energy Efficient Scotland has awarded this funding to Glasgow to help retrofit the existing housing stock. The funding will help to bring energy efficiencies to owner-occupied and private rented homes in wholly-owned and mixed tenure blocks. The Energy Efficient Scotland funding has a number of key objectives including: upgrading housing stock, tackling fuel poverty, reducing carbon emissions and supporting sustainable local economic development.
Enabling the low carbon transition through digital infrastructure and technology
In recent years Scotland’s cities have jointly developed an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects via the ‘Scotland’s 8th City – the Smart City’ Programme. The 8th City Programme seeks to enhance Smart City activity to accelerate and transform the delivery of city services and make Scotland’s cities more attractive, liveable and resilient. Through the Scottish Cities Alliance, the total invested so far in this project is almost £50 million, including ERDF support of over £20 million and Cities Investment Fund of £500,000. In developing projects across the programme, partners are seeking to expand Smart City capabilities and deliver city priorities through improved community engagement, integration of service delivery and innovation. The programme runs from 2015 to 2022 with Glasgow pioneering an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects including: intelligent street lighting, water management, mobility, mobile working and waste.
The University of Glasgow is working with the Connect Places Catapult – the UK’s innovation accelerator for cities, transport and places - to develop a strategy for a Smart Campus that takes into account changes in technology and learning whilst also protecting their heritage (both cultural and physical) and realising cost savings. The University is planning a £800 million investment to transform and expand their campus. The catalyst for this decision was the acquisition of 14 acres of land adjacent to their main campus, which has provided a rare opportunity to rethink the design and layout of a university with 30,000 students located in an urban area. A number of toolkits have been developed already for immediate use: a digital application for students to use is in development and about to undertake field trials. The University library has also had a sensor network successfully installed which reports on environmental occupancy. Optimised timetabling which correlates to predictive analytics based on a student’s course choice has been developed with other technologies such as smart parking, 5G and footfall sensors all being explored. There has also been engagement with SMEs from the local area, specifically in the energy and communication sectors.
