Consultation offers chance to help shape next phase of Avenues in Glasgow city centre

A new public consultation beginning later this week will give the opportunity to respond to initial designs for three Avenues in the next phase of the Avenues project in Glasgow city centre.

People taking part in the consultation will be asked for their views on these initial designs for the Sauchiehall Precinct (between Rose Street and Buchanan Street); the Underline (connecting the West End to the city centre via St George’s Place, Phoenix Road and New City Road); and Cambridge Street.

The £115million Avenues project is funded by the Glasgow City Region City Deal, and aims to change the face of the city centre for the better for all those who live, work, and study there as well as those who visit this great location to shop, eat and drink or enjoy a concert or theatre show. It will see key streets in Glasgow city centre redesigned to protect and prioritise space for cyclists and pedestrians, improve connectivity, introduce sustainable green infrastructure through attractive streetscapes and improve the way public transport is accommodated.

The consultation will be both on-street in the city centre on 16 and 17 November and online at: www.glasgow.gov.uk/avenues, and those participating will be asked to consider the proposals and comment on the provision for pedestrians, cyclists and public transport, and whether green elements and space to play and dwell are important to them. All the feedback from the consultation, along with responses already gathered from local businesses and community groups, will help to inform the next stage of designs.

This consultation follows another earlier this year where those who responded gave their opinions on the initial design concepts for Argyle Street, between Anderston Cross – Trongate, and through St Enoch Square, Dixon Street and down to the Clyde.

Work on Sauchiehall Avenue is currently underway, and this will be the first of 16 such Avenues to be created on Glasgow city centre streets in the coming years.  More information on the Avenues programme for the city centre is available at: www.glasgow.gov.uk/avenues. 

Councillor Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council and Chair of the Glasgow City Region City Deal Cabinet, said: “This is an opportunity for our citizens to become involved in the changing face of our city centre. The city centre is the heart of Glasgow. It’s where so many of us come to work, to socialise, to shop and to meet and every Glaswegian has an interest in its well-being. Some £115million is being invested in the Avenues project and it will have a positively transformative impact on the social and economic life of our city centre streets. So it’s vital the public take part, that as many people as possible give us their views on these initial designs for the some of our key thoroughfares. We want to get this once-in-a-generation opportunity right, to deliver something for Glaswegians with Glaswegians. At the end of this process, we want to look forward to streets attracting even more people to the city centre and take satisfaction that our people have helped shape that.”

Stephen O’Malley, Founding Director of Civic Engineers, the company leading the multidisciplinary design team for Block A of the Avenues said, “The initial design concepts we are sharing for this round of consultation focus heavily on strengthening the existing connections between the city centre and the West End. The links between these two parts of the city are crucial and we want to improve them so they are more inviting and attractive to encourage people to walk or cycle more. With Sauchiehall Street we are looking to build on the existing pedestrianisation and make it a more attractive place to be with more seating, green elements and introducing some informal play for children. The public response to the previous consultation was hugely positive, the Avenues presents an amazing opportunity to transform Glasgow’s city centre streets and we look forward to hearing what they have to say.”

The on-street consultation will take place between 10am – 5pm on Friday 16th (St Georges Cross and New City Road) and Saturday 17th November (Sauchiehall Street, near Marks & Spencer, and Cambridge Street).

Both the UK and Scottish Governments are providing the Glasgow City Region local authorities with £500million in grant funding for the Glasgow City Region City Deal.