In June 2005, the Council entered into negotiations with the Chardon Group to enter into a Development Agreement for the development of ground at Garscube Road - provisional terms have now been agreed for a Development agreement including a long ground leasehold.

The subject of the report is a cleared site formerly occupied by a Nursery School (Phoenix Park Nursery), which adjoins the Garscube Industrial Estate and is included within the boundary of the Glasgow Canal Partnership. The site area extends to 1,944 sq m and is in Council ownership.

The Chardon Group is a Glasgow company, which owns several hotels and restaurants including the franchises for the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express in West Nile Street. It has recently jointly purchased 11 Hilton Hotels along with Starwood Hotels and Resorts as part of a major investment programme in the UK and Europe. This has expanded Chardon’s employment levels from 230 to 1,750 employees, and has required the Company to seek a new Office HQ and to expand its Hotels Training Academy operation.

The Original objective was to construct an office Headquarters for Chardon and the terms of this proposal were approved by committee at its meeting of 20 December 2005.

Since then the masterplan for the Speirs Locks has been initiated by the Canal Partnership and has identified an opportunity for a building use which would bring a greater activity and public footfall to the area. This has provided an opportunity to revisit the Chardon proposal and target their core business of hotel development and management, and has removed the need for Chardon to consider a purely office function which would have required them to develop a building which would have only partly been occupied by themselves with the balance of the development being speculative. This change of use has required a re-appraisal of the terms with the main changes being in terms of use and value.

The proposed change of use will bring a brand name hotel to the area and provide a significant catalyst initiative for the Speirs locks and wider canal regeneration. The provision of the Training Academy within the development is a major opportunity to provide meaningful training and job opportunities within the area.

In addition, whilst the restaurant facility will initially provide facilities for hotel patrons, it is Chardon’s aspiration that it could develop into a local restaurant attraction. This development will provide a 24 hour; seven days per week business significantly improving public footfall, security and general market confidence within the area.

Councillor George Ryan, Executive Member for Development and Regeneration at Glasgow City Council, said: "This plan will provide one of the most important and established companies in Glasgow’s tourism sector with a headquarters, a hotel and a training academy that will help to develop the skills of their expanding workforce. This is a significant development for the city’s labour market given the even greater growth projected for the city over the next decade, and will bring more leisure facilities to Speirs Locks and the surrounding area."