In its Victorian heyday, Blythswood Hill was one of the most fashionable addresses in Glasgow. Now an author and former town planner has called for Blythswood Square be put at the heart of efforts to revitalise the area around Sauchiehall Street following the fire at the Glasgow School of Art.

Graeme Smith says the grand streets around the square have been neglected. “It started in the 1980s after the big stores on Sauchiehall street closed down,” he says, “and it’s out of sight and mind as far as the city council is concerned because they’ve changed their focus to the east of George Square in Merchant City.”

The answer, says Smith, is to bring the same kind of attention that Merchant City has enjoyed to Blythswood. “You need to focus on the area with the same verve and courage as we did with the development of Merchant City,” he says.

He's calling for a Sauchiehall Street arts square to be created, the mothballed McLennan Galleries to be sold to the National Galleries of Scotland and the establishment of a Blythswood Improvement District akin to the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District in New York City, which was pioneered by Mayor Giuliani.

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