A SCOTTISH architect has urged Glasgow to follow Manchester's example as it seeks to ensure the city builds a lasting legacy from hosting the Commonwealth Games.

Glasgow-based HAUS Collective has seen its plans to develop a 458-unit apartment scheme in Manchester approved by the local council.

It is the first time HAUS, established by architects Jim Webster, Murray Henderson and Sandy Houston, has secured consent for a project south of the Border.

And Mr Webster said Manchester can inspire Glasgow as the Scottish city looks to secure long-running benefits from hosting the Games last summer.

According to the architect, hosting the Games in 2000 had "stimulated" decision makers and investors in Manchester to "realise that they could make significant changes".

Mr Webster said: "Through a combination of working in collaboration with central government, and also with private developers, they seemed to hit a sweet-spot very early where things just seemed to happen."

He added: "It's all about how you consolidate the city centre and then use that as a catalyst for investment in surrounding areas to improve the quality of the whole city."

Mr Webster said efforts at ensuring a legacy in Glasgow had started well, but said it had yet to be felt across the city. He said: "The challenge is how do you join all those areas together so you have a contiguous circle that feels good for everybody. There is still a massive polarity between those who have and those who haven't."

The partners behind HAUS, all former directors of 3D Reid, set up the practice in 2013, after Mr Webster had spent a long period working in Berlin. It initially sub-let space from a landscape architect, but moved 10 months ago in its own studio on Candleriggs in the Merchant City.

Its successful planning application for the Angel Gardens in Manchester was lodged on behalf of MODA Living, a joint venture between Caddick Group.

The project, which will feature a 34-storey tower, 22,000 square feet of commercial space and 458 apartments, is believed to be the largest private rented sector development outside London.

Part of a wider masterplan in the area, work on the project has fuelled the growth of the business in the past year.

Mr Webster said: "They [Moda Living] are looking to roll out PRS sites across nine or ten other cities in the country. For us it is a big, big project in a significant city in the UK, and we're delighted. It is hard work, but good fun."

HAUS currently has nine staff, including two graduate trainees, on its books. In Scotland, projects include a large residential in the affluent Glasgow suburb of Whitecraigs, a hotel in the city's Clyde Street in a building owned by Unite, and a retail development in North Lanarkshire.

It is also working on masterplans for property owners in the east end of Glasgow, which are looking to build on the "legacy Clyde Gateway has helped to build following the Commonwealth Games."

Away from Glasgow, HAUS has been consulted on by a community group on a town centre plan for Auchterarder, Perthshire, which Mr Webster said was less about architecture and more about building a long-term future for the town.

This work will centre on a "couple of key moves", such as developing a new town square and encouraging local traders to work together.

He believes community right to buy legislation will pave the way for more communities to play an active part in shaping the future of where they live. Mr Webster said: "There's going to be a lot more active community groups who are going to take more of a vested interest in terms of town centres.

"For so long people have just felt an inability to be involved [as] big out of town retail centres developed and also big supermarkets. There is a change in the dynamic [and] economics."

Meanwhile, asked to gauge the general economic mood and demand for architects' services in Scotland, Mr Webster said: "There is much more optimism, there is a lot more money, it feels, about in terms of people looking to make developments happen. There are a number of schemes that are being dusted down that have sat on a shelf for a period of time."

"The big issue is the ability of councils and government to make the best moves in terms of strategic masterplanning and supporting key moves... where towns are declining. Also, just dealing with planning applications, the time it takes to get through the process is a concern for everybody.

"As a developer or a company looking to relocate to any city want to have assurity in terms of timescale of when that is going to take place. It has got to be appropriate, it has got to be well-considered, but at the same time if it's not dealt with in appropriate timescales then they will ultimately go somewhere it is easier and they know there is certainty."