Planning Approval Gives Green Light for £300 million Redevelopment of Candleriggs Square, Glasgow.
The long-awaited regeneration of Candleriggs Square, one of Glasgow’s most high-profile city-centre sites, has taken a significant step forward following the granting of planning approval by Glasgow City Council.
The ambitious £300m plan to transform the 3.6-acre site lying at the heart of Glasgow’s Merchant City has been developed by a joint venture company bringing together Drum Property Group and Stamford Property Investments, which bought the site in March 2019.
Proposals include a high-quality mixed-use scheme combining homes, offices, hotels, restaurants and local amenities together with landscaped open spaces and accessible walkways – with a new public square at the heart of the development. Approval has been granted for a ‘Planning Application in Principle’ for the entire site as well as for a detailed application for the first phase of the development.
Candleriggs Square - bound by Wilson Street, Hutcheson Street, Candleriggs and Trongate - is regarded by many as the last and most significant piece of the Merchant City regeneration jigsaw. Originally home to Glasgow’s flourishing fruit and vegetable market, for most of the 20th century it was used as a department store before remaining unoccupied since the closure of the last operator in 1999.
Drum and Stamford’s joint venture inherited an existing planning consent, approved in 2016, for 850,000 sq. ft. of residential, student, hotel and commercial space. The approved planning application makes significant improvements to the quality of design and site accessibility, which reflect the site’s unique setting at the heart of the Merchant City.
Welcoming the planning approval, Graeme Bone, Managing Director of Drum Property Group, said:
“This will be a huge boost to the area and to local businesses, who are in desperate need of some good news right now. Our thanks go to Glasgow City Council for their efforts in maintaining an efficient planning service in the midst of the current crisis, allowing developments of a scale such as this to progress".
