Commercial property: Creative thinking in Bridgeton

Crestlink Ltd, who already own and operate successful office and industrial complexes in this part of the city, have bought the 40,000 sq ft former Glasgow College building at Rogart Street in a major expansion move.

The plan is to offer affordable studio space for rental for uses such as drawing and painting, fabric design, film and photography, ceramics, dance, music, architecture, interior design, graphic design and other specialities.

Once the firm gains access to the building in October, the three upper levels will be refurbished and repackaged into a minimalist design, painted cement floors, no suspended ceilings, all the services left exposed, with white walls.

The ground floor will be more industrial but feature a café where people can mill around together and perhaps display some of their work.

David Gilchrist of Crestlink acknowledged it could be seen as a risky business for a more mainstream property firm – the young occupiers may not be able to pay a full commercial rent or be stable enough to take more than a short lease length – but is confident the market is there.

He’s been doing his homework to discover that similarly targeted operations like Crownpoint, Wasp Studios and SWG3 in the West End are virtually full, and believes there will be good take-up of space, even at low rents and shorter term tenancies.

Gilchrist has also had helpful advice from Glasgow School of Art on numbers of graduates and the facilities they are looking for to set up on their own, been in touch with other educational establishments such as the Royal Conservatoire, and approached possible funding sources including Creative Scotland and his local regeneration body Clyde Gateway.

There’s a certain irony in how life has turned full circle in this deal. Crestlink, owned by John Gardner, bought much of the surrounding estate in 1995 from mining equipment firm Anderson Strathclyde and strangely enough owned the Rogart Street property.

They then leased it to the college, who had an option to purchase within the agreement and exercised their right. Now bizarrely, Crestlink have had to buy it back, in open competition, to move forward on their latest scheme.

The company, based in Park Lane House really are the unsung heroes of Bridgeton, which, thanks to recent investment by Clyde Gateway, now houses a string of Grade A standard office developments and major new police office. It is 1.5 miles from the city centre or only five minutes by train.

The firm’s three office buildings and a number of factory units acquired 20 years ago are around 95 per cent full, catering for everything from one man businesses to international engineers Clyde Bergemann. The 100 different tenants of Crestlink based in the wider Broad Street business complex already employ 500 people.

Park House itself, where rents, service charge and utilities can still cost you less than a tenner per sq ft, is a mecca for fashion agents, who supply smaller clothing retailers in the west of Scotland with ladies’, men’s and sports wear, including Andy Murray-endorsed Under Armour. Call centres market everything from double glazing to funeral plans.

Dumbarton buoyed by harbourside site sales

THE sale of two large adjoining sites at Dumbarton Harbour for commercial and residential development represents a major boost the regeneration of the town.

Vacant for more than a decade, both were historically part of Hiram Walkers, once one of the largest distilleries in the world, producing 25 million gallons of whisky a year as recently as 2001.

Property advisers Bilfinger GVA, together with joint letting agents D M Hall, were responsible for sale of the two waterfront sites, which will transform the harbour and former Allied Distillers land which has lain empty for years and are expected to swell the number of temporary and permanent jobs in the town.

Affordable housing specialists Culross Ltd, working with Dunbritton Housing Association, will develop one 7.3 acre site primarily intended for housing, while the adjacent 4.96 acre site has been bought by an as yet unidentified retailer.

The site is a short distance from the 250,000 sq ft St James retail park anchored by Asda and M&S Simply Food.

The location is also close to where West Dunbartonshire Council is currently constructing a town centre office building which will accommodate hundreds of local authority staff and help revive the economy of the immediate area.

Stephen Robertson, associate director of GVA, said: "These two adjoining sites at Dumbarton Harbour have been vacant for a number of years after the collapse of the distillery in 2002 and most of the buildings on the site have already been demolished.

"The larger one is primarily for residential development, whilst the second will complement the commercial activities elsewhere in the town centre. The quick sale of both sites, completed within six months of receipt of instructions, will add to other council initiatives to help kick-start regeneration of this part of the town, including a new riverside walkway."

Following the demise of the distillery, most of the buildings on site were demolished, except for one remaining tower. It was hoped to convert this into flats, but as it proved commercially unviable, it too will now be demolished.