Stantec, a global leader of sustainable design and engineering services, is working with Glasgow City Council on a project to positively shape the future of the city.
Following more than three decades of design history in and around Glasgow, Stantec is working alongside Threesixty Architecture and Kevin Murray Associates in the production of a new Vision and Plan for the areas around Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street and Argyle Street. The group will conduct a collaborative process to consider how the area, currently defined as the ‘Golden Z’, should develop as a place fit for everyone who uses it.
The project team will identify the most influential post-pandemic challenges and opportunities facing the City Centre. This includes the impact of changing retail and leisure trends, growing city centre living and the need to repurpose vacant sites and buildings – as well as the potential contribution of significant future redevelopment proposals, such as those for Buchanan Galleries and St Enoch Centre.
It is hoped the resulting activity by the team will contribute towards the city’s net zero carbon ambition, enhance pedestrian connectivity while helping increase active travel and public transport usage. The plan in turn will establish a renewed, regeneration direction for the Golden Z to provide confidence to businesses, residents, investors and developers and support its successful evolution as the thriving heart of the city.
Over the last five years, Stantec has been involved in many transformative projects for Glasgow City Council. This includes a number of district regeneration studies and helping create active travel routes across the city as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Stantec has also helped improve the lives of students, living and learning in Glasgow through a number of council-led schemes. For example, Stantec is supporting the University of Strathclyde in securing planning permission and delivering a new ‘Heart of the Campus’ as well as helping design an active learning quarter for the university in the north-east of Glasgow city centre. The firm is working with the University of Glasgow, helping it to achieve its carbon neutrality goals by conducting detailed scenario testing and creating an innovative Strategic Travel Plan.
Michael Parkinson, Director, North and Scotland, Infrastructure and Buildings, at Stantec commented: “This city has been a proud home for Stantec for more than 30 years. Throughout that time, we’ve been a key part of its transformation, helping Glasgow become more active, more accessible and more resilient against the various challenges our urban environments increasingly face.
“Throughout every project, we always put places first, and help build communities fit for the future. As city-living residents’ behaviours shift, our town centres are also changing. We need to start thinking differently and more creatively to tackle decline, support retail growth and help transform land assets.
“We’re excited to put forward solutions for the Golden Z which will reassure businesses, residents, investors and developers operating in Glasgow about the city’s prosperous future and long-term environmental resilience.”
The study has been commissioned by Glasgow City Council utilising funding from the Scottish Government City Centre Recovery Fund.
