The Changing Face of Glasgow 2021. New Buildings Part Two.

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The biggest visible change in Glasgow City Centre is the redevelopment of the old run down Tradeston District, replaced in part by this impressive monolithic construction project on the River Clyde waterfront. The Barclays Bank Complex. They had just started it when the Covid 19 pandemic took hold but it's almost finished now... this part of it at least.

Side on view here. It's a massive structure which, according to reports, will bring up to 2,500 new jobs to the city.  What got me excited though was the artists impression of what the surroundings will look like with sculpted pathways, green spaces, cycle tracks and seating along the river frontage. Hopefully I'll be walking or cycling there soon. 

 At the moment it's boarded off but by the looks of it trees and shrubs have already been planted out. New buildings in my home city excite me as any city or town has to balance what old buildings to keep and which ones to replace in a constant juggling act of progress and regeneration. The higher towers might be residential as online reports indicate a mix of business and social and even sky gardens in some designs. For anyone interested you can see further images by typing in Barclays Bank Building. Kingston. Glasgow.

The cycletrack/walkway I was following however was on the other side of the river and a km further on took me to here where an attractive period suspension bridge straddles the river frontage.  This side has not changed since the 1970s  and as it's the city centre equivalent of waste ground (with seating) it can be where people sometimes congregate as it's away from the hubbub and surveillance watchfulness of the nearby busy shopping streets yet within easy walking distance from them. 

 I have to confess I was a bit surprised at how graffiti strewn it has become since my last visit a couple of years ago but probably, due to the pandemic, many city centre districts have resembled ghost towns over the last year- much quieter than normal. Although there's artistic skill in some of the better work here the overall mish mash makes it a bit of an eyesore for the image of a modern city and visitors arriving here.

 What it used to look a decade ago. Just one main mural- and a good one at that. Also note the two buildings and the spaces either side....

 New buildings underway on both sides of the original pair.

 The other side of the waterfront suspension bridge. Apparently this side will undergo a radical transformation as well to match the Barclays Bank side sometime in the near future. At the moment it resembles a building site in places with several new buildings going up here.

Although this one... Virgin Hotels... seems to have stalled somewhat as it's not much more advanced since the last time I observed it. Obviously hospitality was a hard hit industry due to the pandemic so maybe funds have dried up temporarily. Being the afternoon it was quite busy along here with several groups of youngsters hanging around. I didn't therefore and made my way up to the financial district. It was not an area I wanted to be lingering around in as it wasn't hostile as such but I got the feeling it could easily turn that way and not a place I wanted to be visiting when darkness fell. Visually and in reality a city of the have and have nots discovered on this journey, often coexisting side by side though not mixing - like the rest of the UK in general. Mind you, from my own experience, the carbon footprint of the genuine have nots is usually tiny as lacking funds to do anything they do not buy or throw away much. My own paw print is minuscule without even thinking about it or making any effort at all. Make everyone very poor again and save the planet...so we need to level down people. Build back to the 1950s when it was make do or mend, food was rationed, everything was recycled, repaired or kept, anything bought was definitely needed and any limited luxuries came at Christmas. That's my solution for COP 26 Glasgow....  :o)

The rain cloud that had been with me since Partick finally moved on upriver and the sun came out again.

 Up on Argyle Street another new building appears to have stalled....

I seem to recall this concrete support pillar looked much the same two years ago...

Banks and offices meanwhile have bigger budgets to play with. Morgan Stanley building here  which was just completed in the last year or so and a brand new building behind still in progress with cranes up.

 It's quite hard to see the roof of this building from street level but this partial view intrigued me with it's oval summit terrace so I looked it up. Apparently it's the largest new office building in Scotland, predicted to generate £2.8 billion for the Scottish economy with a private viewing terrace and running track on the roof for employees as a perk. I won't link to it but for those interested type in WWW. Home 177 Bothwell Street. Glasgow. to get a short virtual tour, including the roof. A different world! Love to see that rooftop view but no chance of that in reality.

 Other buildings that caught my eye in this district... some are new... others have been refurbished recently like this one. In a fast changing and highly competitive world offices and computers are lucky to last 10 years before they are deemed obsolete so facelifts for buildings, in and out, are common.

Luckily, the City Centre itself doesn't change much. Spires in George Square here...

 Old red sandstone period buildings that give Glasgow it's distinctive look from it's Victorian past.

The Beresford. A Glasgow period icon.

 Whereas, with new glass and steel buildings, nice though this is, sometimes it's hard to tell if it's new, refurbished... or not?

For example... 310 St Vincent Street... Recently refurbished... I'm sure it used to have a blacker look/ black glass effect, last time I noticed it. More like the Eagle Building a couple of blocks away.

Church Spire. St Vincent Street.  At least you know where you are with buildings that stay the same for several centuries.

 The Thomson Church with Scotland's largest new office building and presumably Scotland's highest running track? in the background. Glad to see the Pinnacle building still looks slightly higher from this angle, the higher floors hopefully retaining their stunning views.

Hilton Hotel. Anderston District. Fantastic views here I'd imagine. No other buildings in the way and panoramas up and down the River Clyde and surrounding suburbia to the far horizon. Well placed for maximum impact for guests.

 

 

Glasgow's up and down city centre streets. Fairly level running west to east... up and down like this one when running south to north. Made the mistake of cycling down here and it was still slick with rain water so my back wheel fish tailed alarmingly at the bottom and I thought I was an ex blogger. Very lucky not to have a serious fall. Always an adventure on a bike.  

 Marriott and Hilton Hotels from St Vincent's Plaza.

 Sentinel Building. Waterloo Street area. Very colourful window display at night if I recall.

 Scottish Power Building. Don't remember blue and red here last time.

 The trusty metal steed looking towards Charing Cross. Of all the sports I've tried- rock climbing, summer and winter mountaineering, kayaking, caving, etc, etc... cycling is by far the most dangerous as anything can occur without warning on a bike... traffic attacking you... people, dogs, kids, cows, horses, other bikes, suddenly diving straight in front of you without warning or any logical reason... grit, sand, gravel, mud, wet leaves, water. ice... potholes, tram tracks, stanks, raised or sunken objects....all equally determined to bring you down... and it always hurts! 

Marriott Hotel at Anderston. Good views here as well. Anyone counting overall number of hotel rooms so far in Glasgow within these two posts?.... and that's only a fraction of the total available.

 Moda Living development near Pitt Street. Another major new project of luxury apartments from a company with similar developments in most major UK cities. I often wonder where all the rich folk come from to buy these properties but I suppose you can sell a modest house in London and live like a king or queen up here. Also, if you have spare cash available you can become a private landlord, buy up two or more houses/flats/ apartments and rent them out either to tenants or online B and Bs. The great council house sell off of 40 years ago where everyone supposedly had the right to buy their own home, while it benefited many with the means to get a property has also meant a dire shortage of new affordable homes for younger generations without wealth plus some folk sitting with a large portfolio, including ex council houses, for rent to those less well off. Watched a programme a while ago now with several enterprising teenagers/20 somethings buying up houses in deprived council districts ( they lived elsewhere) to then rent to local people ( presumably said teens were bank rolled by wealthy parents with a million or two to spare.) Although it's perfectly legal that just felt a bit wrong somehow but then that's life. It never is fair, especially for the base of the pyramid.

 

Apparently this is what it's going to look like when completed.
 

A view of Glasgow's leafy suburbia from the business and financial district. The running track view will be even better as it's ten levels higher than this

.Santander building. Notable for it's green roof terraces.

 St Vincent's Plaza. The 310 building featured earlier, seen above.

The Eagle Building, an old favourite of the modern group of glass and steel towers but with more character and elegant lines than most. Now refurbished but still in black, hence the new name.

And a personal favourite of mine for many decades. Still the jewel in the crown. One of the first prominent towers in this area from the swinging 1960s and originally seen from many miles away on its hilltop prime position. I could see it from my house growing up. Standing unique and alone with its distinctive rooftop panels. The old habitat building now called The Pinnacle. Refurbished a while ago into residential flats, office, and retail space but it retains its certain style on Bothwell Street despite being squeezed on all sides by younger upstarts. A building that still commands attention.

The other tall city centre tower from that era. Livingstone Tower I presume, built mid 1960s and still part of the University of Strathclyde. At almost 200 feet another great view over the city and surroundings for those lucky enough to see it.

The Anderston Centre. Argyle Street.  The End.

Glasgow 2021. City Centre Bike Ride. New Buildings in Glasgow Last Few Years.

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As it's been around two years since my last visit into Glasgow City Centre I was curious to see any new changes or buildings going up over that time period so a cycle run was planned by myself while the weather was still warm, end of September 2021 this was. I knew something was occurring as over the last year half a dozen cranes in the financial district and city centre could be spotted from a distance. This view from King's Park on the south side being the most recent. 

 

I set off on the western outskirts of the city and was soon passing Yoker district , seen here, on the Glasgow to Loch Lomond cycle track. This takes the hard work out of cycling as it's mostly a flat run all the way on a disused railway line. Some of these can be like cycling in a subterranean rut with zero views and high grassy sides but this one is slightly elevated by around 10 to 20 feet most of the way so good views of the surroundings are a given.

 Passing Whiteinch district here and a few new built apartments. For a city the size of Glasgow, that once built vast council estates of affordable rented housing for its citizens in all areas of the city and outskirts, 5,000 /10,000 to 40,000 households in each development I often wonder how and where ordinary folk live now. This is a nice development with good use of colour that was sadly lacking in the Dumbarton new builds half a dozens posts ago but all these modern clusters are tiny- not inside but the amount of area they cover and citizens they house, often under 100 units to replace old estates that housed many 1000s at their peak in the 1960s to 1990s  yet Glasgow, after a long population decline is apparently rising again, not by much but a definite increase. So I sometimes wonder where the ordinary folk of the city live these days... but more on that in the next post- Glasgow Part Two.

 

Next stop for a photo is the last shipyard still operating on the upper River Clyde...

 A new warship being built at the BAE Systems yard, one of several completed here over the last 10 to 15 years with the rest now operating in active service from their base around Portsmouth in England. HMS Duncan being one I remember seeing hereabouts during construction and now an active type 45 air defense destroyer patrolling the seas worldwide.

A close up view.

On the opposite bank of the river from the ship, the side I was on, is the comparatively new Glasgow Harbour development (2007 on-wards... might be more buildings to come eventually as vacant riverside frontage is still available here, given a demand and appetite for more luxury apartments, as I'd imagine they are not that cheap- Around £100,000-140.000 for a one bed to £270,000-300,000 for a 3 bed apartment hereabouts ). I always like this stretch though, walking or cycling along it slowly, and usually take this detour down to see the river frontage. The main cycle lane here is sightly inland away from the river views.  

 

I'd seen the weather forecast before I set off and sunny spells plus occasional heavy showers were predicted, brightening up as the afternoon developed further so I thought I'd take the chance. Dark clouds making an appearance here over the Broomhill Flats.

 I just made it to this small boat harbour at the Riverside Museum, looking back to Glasgow Harbour ( where there isn't an actual harbour ) when it started to rain, light at first then a torrential downpour.

 Within minutes all the children out roller skating, cycling, happy tourists walking or sitting around this wide, open plan museum plaza were either safely ensconced within the building itself or sheltering under its arches, clustered in sudden misery around the outside in huddled bunches. I took shelter under some nearby trees instead in my usual splendid isolation and classic voyeur detachment mode.

" I always vant to be alone!"....I intoned to myself..... like G.G... I had full waterproofs in my rucksack, strapped to the bike, but it was a bit of a faff to get them out and on and then they'd be sodden afterwards so trees in full leaf provided a better, quicker, option as it was still fairly warm and I didn't think it would last long.. My T- shirt got damp from drips not soaking wet so was bearable in a late September climate. Something I've noticed before with this museum though is that it is 15 minutes walk from the nearest bus or train station in Partick. Not much of a distance in dry weather but long enough to get completely soaked in poor conditions like this as it rains a lot in Glasgow, there's not much shelter on the journey down here, until this point, when you are nearly there anyway. Not everyone thinks ahead and packs an umbrella or full waterproofs so they must welcome a fair share of soggy people through the doors. It's a museum of transportation by the way with cars, trams, bicycles, railway engines, model ships and a recreated old street of period shops- all indoors out the rain. And a tall full masted ship to explore berthed nearby that is surprisingly spacious below decks.

 After about 20 minutes it cleared up and the sun came out again... so, impatient to get off and get into the City Centre I remounted my metal steed and galloped towards the buildings I could see in the distance, mental spurs digging in with gusto. Glasgow Tower and the glass and steel apartments of Finnieston here in this photo.

I'd only gone a km or so down the cycle-track when the rain came on again, as heavy as before so I sheltered behind some large billboards, and as luck would have it this was directly opposite the long stretch of mural arches along the Clydeside Expressway.

 Sheltering behind the billboards across from the railway arches. Although slightly annoying this did give me a chance to capture some murals I might have missed last time around.

Diver mural...

Bird and fish...

Face....

female....hopefully...

Street Dads...

person in small wooden boat... or swing...         after another 15 minutes the rain dwindled to a light drizzle so I set off again....

 Like the ancient mariner and his albatross however this troublesome black cloud did not want to disappear and kept following me relentlessly... slowly...  and rather inconveniently for me... moving exactly at 'bob bike speed' so that it kept me within its gloomy shadow throughout, like a kind of Scottish movable Mordor. Dark cloud over Glasgow Tower here.

Raining again near Partick and the University of Glasgow student flats... sunshine and blue skies just a mile away...

 West Village at Partick captured in a rare sunny moment beside the River Kelvin...it's all student flats here in this photo.

 After crossing Bell's Bridge at Finnieston I had good views of the Science Centre and the Queen Mary, a period passenger ship being restored here.

 A closer view of the TS Queen Mary, a large steamship built in the early 1930s to carry locals and tourists around the Clyde Coastal resorts and the western seaboard of Scotland with Yorkhill Hospital in the background. I thought I'd successfully dodged the dark cloud with this sneaky sideways detour but the stubborn bugger found me again with a third heavy downpour. The same damn black cloud all three times! Someone was steering it from above!

By this time I'd moved from damp to very wet... but still defiantly wearing just a  T- shirt... sodden through and dripping....yet still unbroken and unbowed!

Clydeport Crane here. In the rain....! There's only a dozen or so of these massive cantilever cranes capable of lifting 100 to 150 plus tons left around the world and the River Clyde has four of them, highlighting how important shipbuilding was to the continued growth of the city during it's industrial and manufacturing past when a large percentage of the world's ships started life on the banks of this modest but vital river.

Armadillo Concert Hall, Hydro Venue, and Bell's Pedestrian and Cycle Bridge 

 Crowne Plaza Hotel at Finnieston.

Skypark and Courtyard Hotel Building at Finnieston. One thing that strikes you is the abundance of hotels around Glasgow City Centre district. Dozens of them and large ones at that. Edinburgh with it's unique volcanic rugged skyline, hilltop castle, and preserved cobbled streets is a big tourist draw with overseas visitors but Glasgow must do alright as well when you count up the sheer number of beds available here. 

Radisson Red...All these hotels are around Finnieston district.... apparently this one is the first new build of this type in Europe. Rooftop bar (visible in above photo perhaps?) and excellent views over city for guests. £65 plus a night currently not too bad for what you get with great living room/ bedroom panoramas high up. I  know there's another Radisson beside Central Station, probably a different colour, and maybe some more elsewhere in the vicinity but it is a world I know very little about. I've only stayed in less than a dozen hotels or B & Bs in my life, mostly in Australia, and the cheaper the better as my personal preference. I'd much rather be in a campsite, bunkhouse, or bothy, winter or summer, so this particular Glasgow of luxury fine dining, 4 and 5 star hotels, and posh indoor entertainments of any kind is a complete mystery to me.

 Another building near Anderston District.  I do not remember seeing this view or high grey wall the last time I cycled past here but I'm maybe wrong about that. It is mostly grey from this side...

But looking very different from the other side of the building and I do remember seeing it from this angle, funnily enough, although some parts of this area are still being developed...

Waterfront cycling between Finnieston and Anderston districts. Clyde Arc Bridge. All this area is on the cycle track beside the river, mostly away from traffic on wide shared pavements/ cycle paths.

 

Walkway/ cycle-track seen here with several newspaper premises in view. Rain cloud still shadowing my progress relentlessly.

 

Don't remember this the last time either although it might have been there and I've just missed it. A nicely designed mosaic by local schoolchildren to commemorate a massive fire in a local building at Cheapside Street in Anderston that claimed the life of some of the firefighters attending the blaze.

 The impressive former  Co-Op HQ over in Kingston district beside the Kingston Bridge. Built late 1800s in a French Renaissance style with cute little windows in the domes. Back in the 1970s, as a young apprentice, my gaffer took me in here occasionally for breakfast as it had an upper floor canteen selling a decent roll and sausage, roll and bacon ,egg etc... nothing fancy but good plain grub and it was never that busy so we got served right away. A building I've always admired but what drew my eye towards it this time was the gleaming golden stature on top. Blasted, like myself, with recent rain showers it positively sparkled when the sun came out- just like me ... one would hope.

So I looked it up.... Link here...

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14625249.kenny-mackays-light-life-golden-statue-replaced-former-co-op-building-glasgow/

That's part one and I've not even reached the city centre yet where any new buildings would be found...would I find it changed since my last visit....?  would I ever dry out...? or would it continue raining on my parade....?