Action plan targets repurposing Glasgow’s under-utilised commercial spaces

AN action plan, to repurpose Glasgow city centre’s under-utilised commercial spaces, is to be presented to the city’s main decision-making committee.

Says the city council, here: “It is estimated that around 20 per cent (around 3.5million square feet) of commercial space in the city centre requires to be refurbished, with another 20 per cent either continuing as lower-value office space or having the potential to be refurbished.”

The wide-ranging plan embraces several ambitions, not least new housing (including ‘affordable’ housing), lobbying for VAT to be exempted from refurbishment projects (currently, only new-builds are zero-rated), cultural spaces, using compulsory purchase orders and matchmaking buildings with short-term, so-called ‘meanwhile’, uses.

The city announcement continues: “The action plan is for the 2023/24 period and has recommendations in a number of themes, including the building of new homes at scale; taxation and additional powers; the strategic disposal/reuse of public assets to maximise value and quality of place; affordable housing; accelerating office space in older office / heritage buildings; increasing demand for high-quality, flexible and fitted out co-working and office spaces; supporting the creative and innovative sectors; the contracting retail market / policy flexibility; build-to-rent and convert to rent accommodation; and ‘matchmaking’ – matching the owners of vacant property with meanwhile uses in the short term.”

Next up is the action plan being presented from today’s meeting of the council’s Economy, Housing, Transport and Regeneration City Policy Committee to an upcoming meeting (perhaps March 23) of the City Administration Committee.

Picture credit: Glasgow City Council

Comments are welcome – only courteous ones (as per our T&Cs) – but they can only be posted by signed-in members. To sign up, for as little as £12 a year, please go here. Please note, comments appear following moderation.