Collegelands is Glasgow’s first new city centre quarter in decades, and will feature over 1.1million square feet of commercial and residential space when complete.  The development has been created through a partnership between Glasgow City Council and Dawn Group.

The Collegelands project has seen the reclamation of the former College Goods Railway Yard at High Street / Duke Street, a site that lay vacant for more than 40 years.

The first phase of the scheme includes 102,000 square feet of office space; student accommodation units, offering 600 bed spaces; a 1220 space multi-storey car park, run by City Parking, one of the council’s arms length external organisations; and the site infrastructure and utilities including off-street car parking and new internal roads.

The student accommodation is already full and the car park opened in late 2011.

It is expected that Collegelands will be a catalyst for further regeneration projects that will unlock the area’s development potential as well as linking to Glasgow’s East End, an area that is also undergoing major transformation through projects such as the M74 completion and the building of the East End Regeneration Route, the Commonwealth Sports Arena and Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome.

Over 400 construction jobs were created during the first phase of the project, with an impact of £80million for the city’s economy.

Glasgow City Council has now taken up a 25 year lease for 102,000 square feet of office space for use by several of its services and ALEOs (Arm’s-Length External Organisations).

The first of these to move into the building was ACCESS, the council’s ICT and property services ALEO.  Approximately 1000 council and ALEO staff will move in over the next few months.

Councillor Gordon Matheson, the Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The Collegelands development has generated £80million of economic activity in the city, and the Grade A office space now open will become a symbol of the regeneration of this part of the city.  This development breathes new life into a site that has historically been of great significance to Glasgow, and I look forward towards its continued transformation.”

Paul O’Donnell, Director, Dawn Developments, said: “Dawn is delighted to have been at the forefront of delivering the first phase of this project in partnership with Glasgow City Council.  Collegelands is now a recognised business location and will create substantial job and investment opportunities in the coming years.  We believe Collegelands will grow to become a major district within Glasgow City Centre whilst contributing to the regeneration of the east end of the city. ”

One of the UK’s biggest urban developments over the past few years, Collegelands is a symbol of the continuing regeneration of Glasgow, fulfilling economic and inward investment as well as meeting wider social and community regeneration objectives.

City Building, Glasgow City Council’s arm’s-length construction company, carried out the fit-out of the office blocks and car park.  This work has given the firm an opportunity to take on more than 20 apprentices, recruited via the council’s Commonwealth Apprenticeship Initiative.

In addition the office furniture has been manufactured at Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries (RSBi) in Glasgow, one of Europe’s largest supported factories.  RSBi employs around 240 people, more than half of whom have a disability, including ex-HM Forces veterans.

The buildings in Collegelands have a red brick warehouse style with high quality landscaping and a water feature on the south side of the development.  The boundary wall of the former College Goods Yard railway station on Duke Street has been retained, in a nod to the history of the site.

Glasgow City Council negotiated a deal in 2006 with developer TDI Ltd (a joint venture company owned by Dawn Group with shareholding held by Chiltern Group) for the site.  The disposal involves the council receiving an initial capital sum and profit share once the development is complete.

The future development of the Collegelands site is likely to see a variety of uses, with interest in establishing hotels, student residencies and more office space.

The move to the new offices at the Collegelands development is part of Glasgow City Council’s Tomorrow’s Office programme which will save the local authority £6million annually as it reduces its city centre accommodation from 19 buildings to six.