By Scott Wright
THE former Archaos nightclub in Glasgow, one of the most popular late-night venues in Scotland during its 1990s peak, is to be turned into student accommodation.
A US-based commercial property developer has revealed plans to breathe life into the derelict Queen Street site, which has been vacant since the club that shared its name with the renowned French circus closed its doors for the final time in 2007.
CA Ventures, which is headquartered in Chicago, said its project would help tackle a “well documented” dearth of student accommodation in the city. It is proposing to create around 230 fully serviced apartments and amenities in the building, which it may supplement with retail and commercial facilities on the ground floor.
The Archaos development would be the latest in a series of student accommodation projects to be undertaken by CA Ventures in Scotland since it came to the UK in 2018, and follows the completion of two buildings, offering a total of 646 beds, in Glasgow and Edinburgh last year. Projects developed by CAV in Scotland to date include Huxley Studios and Silk Mill in Edinburgh, and Bridle Works on Cathedral Street, Glasgow.
And the company, which has other developments in the pipeline in Scotland, declared its proposals would act as a catalyst for the regeneration of the Queen Street area, noting that the building was close to the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow Caledonian University and City of Glasgow College.
CAV hopes to submit a full planning application towards the end of the year, with the intention to begin work on-site during 2023 if permission is granted. It is working towards an entry date ahead of the academic year beginning in August 2025. The company estimates that around 250 construction jobs would be created through the construction phase of the project, which it adds would be worth around £10 million to the Glasgow economy.
The developer said in a statement: “These exciting proposals represent a significant investment in Glasgow and will serve to regenerate a currently derelict site. They will serve to provide much-needed student accommodation in a building which has lain empty since 2007 and which, due to its condition, provides limited options for redevelopment.
“During a well-documented shortage of purpose-built student accommodation, potential students have no choice but to explore rental accommodation, which adds to the already significant strain on housing stock.
“We envisage this site as a perfect opportunity to add to the vibrant community of students currently living in central Glasgow, benefitting local shops. These proposals are at an early design stage, and over the next few weeks, we look forward to engaging in discussions with the local community about how best to progress this.”
The Queen Street building is understood to be in a poor state of repair, and currently does not offer a sufficient floor area or a suitable internal layout to allow it to be put to an alternative commercial or residential use. CAV noted that previous attempts to open the building as a nightclub and then developed into an office scheme failed to get off the ground, given the anticipated costs involved in refurbishing the site.
Prior to submitting its planning application, CAV said it will hold two statutory consultations at the project at the former Bowery Bar on Queen Street. The consultations will be held tomorrow (November 2) and on Wednesday December 1.
CAV is currently putting the finishing touches to a 102-bed student accommodation project in Edinburgh and has submitted three further applications that will offer an additional 621 beds in the city. The company hopes the latter three, one of which is mixed use and will include build-to-rent and affordable residential accommodation, will be completed in 2025.
In addition, CAV has secured a piece of land in Dundee on which it plans to develop a purpose-built student accommodation scheme and is targeting a further site in Edinburgh.
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