SCOTTISH Enterprise (SE) is to kick off a £25 million-plus plan to build houses and shops on the former Glasgow Garden Festival site – but the long-held desire for a "creative cluster" in the area is still a "medium-term" objective, according to a senior executive.
The development agency has hired property agent Savills to begin marketing two plots of land directly south of the BBC Scotland headquarters at Pacific Quay. They have the capacity for about 190 houses and a number of what are described as "neighbourhood retail" units, such as small-scale stores and cafés.
The move is SE's latest attempt to turn some of its substantial landholdings in the area into an upmarket riverside district to complement the BBC, STV and the Science Centre.
The agency has been talking for at least a decade about attracting an influx of creative and media companies to develop a digital media quarter.
SE commissioned a masterplan in 2004, but progress foundered with the economic crash five years ago and also because of perceptions that the area's lack of amenities made it unattractive.
A second masterplan was drawn up last year, which envisaged a combination of major commercial media offices, loft-style "live-work" units for creative workers, sustainable housing and light industrial space.
These were to be divided between two areas, one around the quayside at the Canting Basin to the west of the BBC and the other beyond Pacific Drive to the south.
This was backed by a marketing drive branded Creative Clyde, which brought together SE, Glasgow City Council, Glasgow University, the BBC, STV and Creative Scotland.
It is not clear whether this drive has achieved anything specific, but Premier Inn and De Vere both announced plans to build hotels in the area last year – with a combined investment of £31m – to be ready in time for the Commonwealth Games.
SE is now planning to spend £2.5m to build a "spine road" and carry out utility works, ahead of Savills beginning the marketing of the plots in the second half of the year. De Vere is due to begin work on its site next month.
Under the current plan, only the area south of Pacific Drive is being developed. However, Savills has been hired on a five-year contract, with a view to parcelling off the remainder of the land included in the masterplan later.
Allan McQuade, SE director of business infrastructure, conceded that the market for building commercial space on both sites "has not come forward as quickly as we anticipated". He said: "There is limited interest in speculative development at the moment. We see it as being medium term."
But he insisted that the new developments would still move the idea of a digital media quarter forward. "The De Vere and the new retail will mean that the services are available that will make the area more attractive for businesses coming in," he said.
He said that the homes were likely to be family homes with gardens, but added it would depend on developers' proposals as to how upmarket they would be.
No-one appears to be expecting to build any of the "live-work" units at present, with one source saying that this could turn out to be the sort of thing where an architect's vision ends up clashing with commercial reality.
The masterplan, drawn up by Edinburgh firm 7N, also envisages a housing expo with a renewable energy unit at its centre.
Since the work was completed, SE has since selected rival firm BDP to ensure that the masterplan is followed.
McQuade added that there will not be incentives offered to any of the developers, though there would be tax breaks due to the fact that it was declared an enterprise area by Finance Secretary John Swinney last year. There would also be the potential for regional selective assistance for foreign investors. A source estimated that the development work could cost anything between £25m and £40m.
Bruce Patrick, a director of Savills, said he expected that if this first phase went well, he would start marketing the other plots in due course.
"To go and convince a developer right at this moment to build a speculative commercial building almost of any sort without a tenant lined up is very difficult," he said.
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