CANDLERIGGS SQUARE

Candleriggs Square, bound by Wilson Street, Hutcheson Street, Candleriggs and Trongate, is regarded as the last and most significant piece of the Merchant City regeneration jigsaw.

Originally home to Glasgow’s flourishing fruit and vegetable market, the site lay neglected and unused for 20 years, becoming an unattractive gap site in an otherwise vibrant and thriving neighbourhood.

Drum and Stamford’s joint venture inherited an existing planning consent, approved in 2016, for around 850,000 sq. ft. of residential, student, hotel and commercial space. Drum and Stamford’s revised and consented application in 2020 made significant improvements to the quality of design and site permeability which reflect the site’s unique setting at the heart of the Merchant City.

Proposals include a mix of homes, hotel and commercial space clustered around landscaped areas and a central public square. Restaurants, cafes, bars and retailers will be included at ground-floor levels, augmented by a variety of pedestrian-friendly street-level courtyards.

A 500-bedroom hybrid-hospitality complex for The Social Hub will opened April 2024, and a 346-apartment build-to-rent residential building for Legal & General completed in the summer.

The development will return Candleriggs Square to a bustling market-place full of life, vitality and interest and intrinsically linked to the rest of the city centre, bringing with it a significant and timely boost for both the local and national economy.