CITY CENTRE LIVING STRATEGY GLASGOW VISION 2035 Forth and Clyde Canal Glasgow University Forth and Clyde Canal Metal Flowers, Cowcaddens George Square Riverside Sauchiehall Avenue Museum Kelvingrove Mitchell Buchanan Galleries Necropolis Library Glasgow Cathedral Scottish Event Campus Central Station George Square Glasgow Mackintosh Glasgow Cathedral St Enoch Square Glasgow Toolbooth Science St Andrews Centre Cathedral The Barras Glasgow Green Glasgow Women’s Library All maps in this document: © Crown Copyright and database right 2015. All rights reserved. OS Licence No. 100023379 Sauchiehall Avenue Glasgow Women’s Library Mitchell Library 2 You are not permitted to copy, sub-license or sell any of this data to third parties in any form. 07/03/2015 3 City Centre Living Strategy City Centre Living Strategy CONTENTS 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 7 6 STRATEGIC CONTEXT 42 2 FOREWORD 9 7 CONSULTATION 48 3 INTRODUCTION 11 8 VISION FOR 2035 50 4 OPPORTUNITIES AND CONSTRAINTS 17 9 ACTION PLAN 52 5 UNDERSTANDING THE CONTEXT 26 10 REFERENCES 67 4 5 City Centre Living Strategy City Centre Living Strategy 1 Executive Summary The City Centre Living Strategy Vision 2035 The CCLSV2035 responds to the topics and The CCLSV2035 will support the wider (CCLSV2035) is to enable a sustainable, inclusive opportunities raised through this process and regeneration strategy in Glasgow city centre through and diverse city centre population. To achieve this, builds on the fertile substratum of the city centre, its actions focused on delivering a more liveable place we have established six key objectives that will compact urban form, its architectural and heritage with the necessary supporting policy and physical double the current population of around 20,000 by richness, its economic framework, and the renewed infrastructure. It will be subject to regular review 2035. interest in city living demonstrated by younger to ensure that progress continues to be made on generations. achieving its strategic objectives. Preparing this strategy has been a collaborative effort involving many people, organisations and This strategy acknowledges the challenges and investors who have a stake in Glasgow city potential for environmental improvement. The centre. An evidence base was developed through Avenues programme of public realm investment will professional and public engagement activity, signifi cantly improve the liveability of the city centre market analysis, comparative city review, and by creating better places and spaces for people, and policy assessment, which reinforced the need for with its promotion of green infrastructure. The wider a plan to enhance the liveability of the city-region’s City Centre Strategy is also delivering a range of commercial heart. activity in areas that have potential for improvement, including the forgotten river, the car-dominated public spaces, the fragmented urban structure, and the severance and disruption of the M8. 6 7 Our goal is to create the conditions which are spaces are becoming more available for residential required to attract more individuals and families, use. as well as the services communities need to thrive, back into the heart of Glasgow. This report will lay In addition, the progression of the City Innovation out the journey for how we intend to get there. District, the reputation of our learning institutions, the Foreword location of Channel 4 in Glasgow and the creation of 2 Liveability is central to the long-term vision and over 3000 high-end jobs on the banks of Clyde are strategies of the City Council and our partners; rapidly enhancing our international reputation - with a city with a thriving economy and excellent jobs Glasgow’s historic centre fi rmly at the heart of this. opportunities for all, where the right mix of homes is surrounded by great public spaces with easy access To achieve our liveability goals, we must understand I am delighted to introduce Glasgow’s to nature, culture, high quality schools and learning how Glasgow performs today. City Centre Living Strategy, our vision opportunities. for a more liveable and inclusive city This report will explore the opportunities and centre. There are national and international best practices challenges that Glasgow faces today as it seeks to Glasgow can and has been learning from as we repopulate its city centre. We must compare and seek to revitalise and repopulate our city centre. contrast our policies and approaches, our successes We have seen how higher density residential and hurdles, with those of similar cities in the UK developments in mixed-use neighbourhoods and beyond. can fl ourish, and how high-quality public realm, supported by effi cient transport infrastructure not Our strategy will set out where the future of urban only lessens car dependency but supports the living will be in the city centre, one where every Our challenge is to treat the great city delivery of our low carbon targets. citizen has a stake and feels fully included and of Glasgow with the respect it deserves: where new communities can thrive. to“ set our hearts and our heads on We start from a good place. Glasgow is affordable, making Glasgow the best place to raise a giving us real appeal among millennials, and a cultural vitality often crucial in retaining the new and family, to start a business, to live a good emerging skills and talent our economy needs to life – a great European city that is mindful fl ourish. of its past, and confi dent in its future. Our city centre is again an attractive proposition for investment and development following the global crash of 2008, the Avenues project is creating more Councillor Susan Aitken liveable, breathable streets, the Low Emission Zone Leader of Glasgow City Council will vastly improve our air quality. Ward: Langside SCOTTISH NATIONAL PARTY Major projects such as the new Queen Street station are on track for delivery in the coming years, revitalised communities on the periphery of the city centre are being reconnected into it and prime 8 9 City Centre Living Strategy City Centre Living Strategy Strategy The demand for a Glasgow City Centre Living affordable housing, building resilient societies and Strategy was supported by extensive research economies by investing in public transport and and market engagement undertaken by Savills, creating green public spaces. commissioned by Glasgow City Council in 2016. Themes In this context, Glasgow City Council’s Strategic Introduction The fi ndings highlighted the current lack of Plan commits to deliver the right mix of homes Strategy 3 residential availability and choice in the city centre, across the city together with the best outcomes Analysis + in parallel with unmet demand. The increasing for people and communities, as well as to grow Action Plan number of residential planning applications lodged the number of people who are able to make their Components Themes of City in the city centre and its vicinities further confi rm homes in Glasgow city centre; and Glasgow’s City the demand for a strategic approach to support Development Plan refl ects the Sustainable Goals Centre Strategy The City Centre Strategy, is the Defi ning a increased levels of city living. principles in the place making principle that is Densities for a document which identifi es the need liveable City Liveable City threaded through the whole document, and more Evidence of Centre for a City Centre Living Strategy. It was Research from the Centre for Cities indicates that specifi cally in Guidance 1 which supports the Centre the number of 22 to 29-year-olds living in large delivery of a mixed used, vibrant city centre also Components published by Glasgow City Council in Demand city centres has nearly tripled as young, single, through higher density residential developments. Evidence of of a Living City 2014, it covers a period of fi ve years and highly educated ‘millennials’ choose to settle in Strategic Need Centre is currently being updated. urban areas. Outside London, the regions with the The City Centre Living Strategy identifi es a variety Framework What is a living largest percentage of the population aged 25-34 of cross-cutting components and local solutions Demand for City City Centre are Northern Ireland, Scotland, and the North West, to achieve strategic change in the city centre, Centre Living in each with around 13% of the population in this age- supported by evidence collected in the analysis of Glasgow group. existing housing stock, current residential market, City Centre Need for CCLS Strategy levels of service provision, urban form, challenges 2014-19 This change in landscape for cities is clearly and opportunities within the nine districts. captured in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Cities in the UK and across Development; the 17 sustainable goals in the The discourse on residential densities that are the world aim to deliver agenda overall recognise that ending poverty and currently being delivered in Glasgow’s comparator Change in Market Demand more attractive, sustainable, other deprivations must go hand-in-hand with cities led to the support of higher residential Increased number of economically viable, vibrant and strategies that improve health and education, reduce densities, strictly through design –led, place based residential planning inequality, and spur economic growth – all while solutions. applications in the liveable city centres, responding tackling climate change. city centre and its Conclusions to pressing climate change The CCLS condenses the elements of a liveable city vicinities challenges