8.34 The quality of the City Centre is determined by the combination of, and relationship between, buildings, streets and spaces. This is reflected in the joint City Council and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (SEG) programme of improvement work to key public streets and urban spaces (using European, private and public sector sources of finance). The £25 million Glasgow City Centre Millennium Plan Public Realm Programme Phase 1 (Figure 8.4) has created more people-friendly public spaces together with safer areas for shopping, street entertainment and pavement cafés. The final elements of Phase 1 includes Argyle Street, Phase 4 - Union Street to Queen Street, Buchanan Street, Phase 3 - Nelson Mandela Place, Buchanan Street, Phase 4 - Dixon Street and Sauchiehall Street, Phases 3 and 4 Hope Street to Rose Street. Completion of Phase 1 will also involve street lighting in Sauchiehall Street and the St. Enoch Underground canopy.

The City Council and its partners will complete Phase 1 of the Glasgow City Centre Millennium Plan Public Realm Programme.

8.35 Consideration is being given to funding a second phase of the Public Realm Programme (Figure 8.4) that would reinforce and extend the benefits that Phase 1 has brought in terms of quality streetscaping and street furniture. Priority schemes would include Trongate, Chisholm Street, Glasgow Cross, Ingram Street West/No 1 George Square and Queen Street Station Gateway (West George Street).

Figure 8.4: Public Realm Programme

8.36 The major roads infrastructure ringing the City Centre has a negative impact on the adjacent surface streets and surrounding communities. Arriving through these areas can create a poor first impression of the City Centre. Perimeter Gateway Projects have been identified for Anderston, Charing Cross, Townhead, and Broomielaw/SECC. This Gateway Public Realm Programme would seek to break down the barriers created by the M8 Motorway and Kingston Bridge and, through a range of security and development measures, re-integrate these areas into the mainstream urban fabric.

The City Council will establish Phase 2 of the Glasgow City Centre Millennium Plan Public Realm Programme.

8.37 In parts of the City Centre, the civic squares no longer function as they were originally intended. The Public Realm Programme has already addressed this issue at St Enoch Square where improvements and new traffic management measures have created the context for its use as a piazza with street cafes, public entertainment, and artwork.

Glasgow Café Life

8.38 George Square, although well-cared for, is in need of enhancement. A modern urban square finds expression through sculptures, fountains, paving, trees and plants. George Square should again become a memorable visual and functional highlight for citizens and visitors to Glasgow. Its redesign should include measures to better control the car and provide a suitably representative framework for Glasgow’s most important public building - the City Chambers. Such an ambitious civic objective as this needs to be organised and funded as a special project. In order to reflect the Square’s status within the City, the Council will commission a study aimed at creating a public space that reflects the City’s status and confidence in the future.

The City Council will commission a study for the enhancement of George Square.

8.39 The primary residential areas of the City Centre are at Garnethill, Townhead, Ladywell/High Street, Anderston and Glasgow Cross. The Merchant City has made an important contribution to the City Centre’s residential stock, its core population growing as development opportunities within the context of its rich and varied, high quality environment have been realised.

8.40 For many people, the City Centre is an attractive place to live due to its proximity to employment, cultural, shopping, leisure and educational facilities. Further development of the City Centre as a place to live, through new residential development and the conversion and refurbishment of redundant upper floors of commercial buildings into housing use, will be encouraged, provided environmental, amenity and other land use considerations are met (see policy CC/RES 1: Residential Development and Amenity).

8.42 Addressing the problem of vacant upper floors presents a major opportunity for increasing the population of Glasgow City Centre while safeguarding the future of many buildings of historic and architectural merit. The influx of a new wave of residents into the City Centre should provide social diversity, security, and enhanced vitality to certain areas, particularly in the evenings and at weekends.

The City Council will support appropriate proposals to expand residential development in the City Centre, including proposals that bring vacant upper floors back into residential use.

8.43 The image of the City is important and nowhere is that image more powerfully portrayed than in the City Centre with its 550 listed buildings. Much of the City Centre is also designated as an Outstanding Conservation Area. This legacy means that physical change requires to be managed with particular care and sensitivity. Given the number and variety of listed buildings in the City Centre, it is inevitable that, at any one time, a number will be vacant. Since the retention of these buildings is of concern to the Council, encouragement will be given to proposals that secure their best viable use, in a way that is compatible with their listed status.

The City Council will adopt the best viable use approach to the re-use of vacant Listed Buildings.

8.44 Equally important as the protection of the City Centre’s historic fabric is the creation of modern buildings of the highest quality. High quality new buildings can help attract visitors to the City and be the catalyst for further regeneration. New development should complement the existing built environment by being of an appropriate scale and in sympathy with its surroundings. An insistence on design quality is the means by which the Council will protect the existing urban fabric and reinforce a sense of place and townscape quality in the City Centre.

The City Council will assess Development Proposals against the Development Policies, Supplementary Guides and Design Guidance set out in Part 2 of the Plan.

8.45 The Merchant City Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI), a partnership between the Council and SEG, is an urban regeneration initiative focusing on the historic environment around Trongate/Glasgow Cross, Ingram Street, High Street and Glassford Street. (Figure 8.5) The THI aims to tackle the economic and social circumstances that have led to the physical decline of the built environment in the Merchant City, with associated loss of architectural character and commercial or residential activity. Particular emphasis is placed on the repair of the historic fabric, the re-instatement of architectural detail, the re-use of upper floors and improvements to gap sites and the public realm. The initiative is primarily targeted at owners of historic buildings who require grant assistance to enable an appropriate standard of repairs, re-use and upgrading to take place.

Figure 8.5: Central Outstanding Conservation Area and the Townscape Heritage Initiative

8.46 The Council is assisting the THI to formulate a Conservation Area Management Plan that will set out robust and enforceable design and planning guidelines. The Management Plan will be supported by the Development Policies set out in Part 2 of the Plan.

The City Council will support the Merchant City Townscape Heritage Initiative.

8.47 Art in the public realm is an expression of social, cultural, and economic confidence. Its provision in the City Centre will enhance the City’s image, generate civic pride and contribute to a sense of place. The Clyde Clock 2000 at Concert Square, Strathclyde Fire Brigade’s commemorative sculpture at the corner of Hope Street and Gordon Street, Candleriggs and the Cathedral Precinct are good examples of the successful integration of art into a public place.

8.48 The Public Realm programme is producing a high quality, sustainable and vibrant environment with a range of opportunities for street activity. Public Art, in the form of sculpture, decorative paving or etched stone panels, street furniture, metalwork railings, lighting features, fountains and floodlighting, is an essential complement to the investment already made in the public realm. Initial efforts should be directed primarily towards Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street, Argyle Street, Royal Exchange Square, Gordon Street, St. Vincent Street, and St. Enoch Square. While Scottish Enterprise Glasgow, the Council, and the Scottish Arts Council are the principal sources of funding for the Artwork Programme, sponsorship from business interests and support from the voluntary sector will also be sought.

8.49 The lighting of buildings, structures and spaces can play an important role in defining the character of the built environment, the street lighting in Buchanan Street illustrating the positive impact that can be achieved. It can also be used to promote the City by projecting a friendly and welcoming image to the visitor and improving the safety of the City Centre after dark.

8.50 Decorating the streets and squares is already part of the City Centre scene, enlivening the area and informing visitors. Extending the imaginative use of flags and banners could further animate the street scene, identify key venues and promote special events. A co-ordinated approach to the development of these three important elements of the City Centre would make a significant contribution to reinforcing Glasgow’s distinctive character.

The City Council, in association with relevant agencies and organisations, will prepare strategies for Public Art, Lighting and Dressing the City.

8.51 In an effort to protect the viability and vitality of the Primary Retail Streets, proposals for changes of use from Retail (Class 1) have been resisted. There is, however, an appreciation that certain uses, such as street cafés, contribute to the attraction of the City Centre. The Public Realm Programme has changed perceptions and attitudes by providing Glasgow City Centre with a safer, more attractive pedestrian environment comprising high-quality materials set in well-designed streetscapes. The emergence of street cafés in certain parts of the public realm is a reflection of the influence the Programme has had on metropolitan lifestyles in the heart of the City.

8.52 The food and drink scene is served by a growing number of tea-rooms, restaurants, bars, bistros, sandwich shops and take-aways operating as street cafes. In response to this growing demand, the Council has initiated a strategic review into the promotion and regulation of street cafés (see policy CC/SC 3: Food and Drink Uses in the City Centre).

The City Council will produce a strategy for the promotion and operation of street cafés in the Public Realm.