If there is one Chamber of Commerce member message I have been getting consistently over the past 18 months it is that Glasgow city centre is not in the shape members would like it to be. Empty shop units, broken pavements, high business rates and parking charges keep being raised as symptoms of a centre that is felt to be unattractive and in decline. Sauchiehall Street is the street most often used as the illustration of all that is going wrong.
It is also why the August event launching the Golden Z report which examined the options for the future of Glasgow’s three biggest shopping streets – including Sauchiehall Street - attracted a big audience. It is not simply that the city centre remains the region’s biggest hub for employment, education, shopping and leisure. It is also a matter of pride that our hometown looks its best for visitors and residents alike.
Last week the City Council published its response not just to the Golden Z report but to several parallel reviews of issues ranging from empty offices and post-pandemic transport systems to increasing the number of city centre homes. The City Centre Strategy sets out the council’s plans through to 2030 explaining how, together with its partners, it will lead the work to support the centre through a period of transformation.
I am personally very pleased to see the Strategy emerge as I have been working alongside Councillor Angus Millar as co-chair of the City Centre Task Force, set up in late 2020 as a response to the physical, economic and social damage the pandemic was doing. The Strategy pulls together in one plan three years’ worth of work understanding what has been happening to our city and the various routes to recovery.
Read more: Stuart Patrick: Why Glasgow needs a City Coalition
Three primary themes give the strategy its structure. The first is that our city centre will always be a magnet for shopping, hospitality and entertainment. The balance may have shifted away from retail but it would be wrong to think shopping won’t still be important. It will play its part alongside eating out, visitor attractions, music, film and theatre. The proposal for a cultural district around Sauchiehall Street is in the plan. But for that to succeed the centre’s look and feel must improve; the streets have to be attractive and worth spending time in.
The second phase of the City Deal-funded Avenues project has now begun on Sauchiehall Street at Cambridge Street with Argyle Street next in line for upgrading. Investments at the St Enoch Centre and at the Buchanan Galleries show the private sector is ready to contribute with its own large commitments.
Doubling the residents living in the city centre is the second theme, a recognition that Glasgow has for decades had a lower population at its core than any other large UK city. Converting empty shop units and upper-storey office space into homes is a widely shared aspiration and the plan does not shy away from the practical challenges involved in achieving it. The creation of a special team devoted to overcoming barriers to development is an especially welcome proposal.
The growth of fresh emerging industries in technology-rich sectors including digital, quantum, fintech and other engineering disciplines is the final theme and is already happening through the Glasgow City Innovation District in the neighbourhood surrounding the University of Strathclyde. Both national governments have been investing in measures to support a whole new generation of home-grown companies exploiting the research strengths of our universities.
Glasgow’s International Financial Services District has been a successful example of a project designed to attract inward investment. Now the Innovation District will help bring diversity into the city centre’s employment base. The Bruntwood SciTech Digital and Tech hub planned for the Met Tower building is a great example of private investment already responding to the Innovation District’s opportunities.
No one doubts there is a very long way to go and the pace of change may be frustrating but a recovery plan has now been proposed. Now is your opportunity to add to that plan through the council’s consultation process.
Stuart Patrick is CEO of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce
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