The £300 million extension to Glasgow's Buchanan Galleries, due to be completed in 2012, is the latest step in a long journey that has seen Scotland's second city transform itself from ailing industrial metropolis to thriving services-driven economy, which began when the shipyards started to shut in the 1970s. Glasgow was hit as badly as anywhere in the UK by the decline in heavy manufacturing. The cranes lining the Clyde formed the city's skyline and its identity as a hard-working, hard-living workshop of the empire. By the 1980s, Glasgow was searching for a new soul, and - by vigorously unearthing its cultural roots, sandblasting some fine Victorian buildings and erecting major new landmarks - found it in the arts, entertainment, fashion and high-end retail. The city now attracts more than three million visitors a year and will host the Commonwealth Games in 2014.
Over the past 25 years, Glasgow's once rather dilapidated city centre and riverside have benefited from an injection of investment which has led to a flurry of concert halls, galleries, convention centres, hotels, upmarket residences and retail developments, including the current Buchanan Galleries, opened in 1999 and built on the northern edge of the main shopping quarter.
The development - at the top of Buchanan Street, the city's main, pedestrianised retail artery - will double the size of the current centre by 700,000sq ft and include a 2,400-bay multi-storey car park on top of a refurbished Buchanan Bus Station, linked to the complex by pedestrian bridge (space taken up by the current car park is being used for the extension). The existing development did much to transform the rather run-down north end of the city centre and the extension will take it further, with new retail units on Cathedral Street and Killermont Street, properly bringing them within the city centre.
Glasgow has a large city centre, with streets laid out in a grid-pattern and flanked by Sauchiehall Street to the north and Argyll Street to the south. Buchanan Street is one of several streets that run north to south. However, much of the centre is Victorian-era, with a few post-war blocks and smaller shopping centres interspersed. The other modern retail mall, the 750,000sq ft St Enoch Centre, which is also being extended, is at the southern end of Buchanan Street.
Tom Venner, development manager for developer Land Securities, which is running the project in a joint venture with Henderson Global Investors called Buchanan Partnership, says a lack of larger, purpose built retail accommodation has been a drag on the development of Glasgow's retail scene. But the extension will address this with its 60 retail units, which include a new 150,000sq ft department store and shops up to 35,000sq ft in size. "Much of the retail stock is in historic buildings," he says. "This new build will be better configured to the modern retail style, with all the benefits of being on a covered site."
Unsurprisingly, Buchanan Partnership is keen to attract a top department store to anchor the extension, and, while there have been reports that this will be Marks & Spencer - which occupies a 1960s-era building in Sauchiehall Street - this is unconfirmed. The development will include 28 catering units - including roof top terraces - and negotiations are in placed with a cinema operator. Glasgow City Council has given outline planning approval to the project, which will include a new five-level atrium entrance on Buchanan Street to the Galleries and the next-door Royal Concert Hall. Work, directed by architects BDP, is expected to begin in 2009, with the emphasis being on "a modern vernacular with stone, glass, steel and timber" and "clean, cool lines exposing larger shop fronts". Natural light will be provided by the 60m x 40m glass atrium roof.
The Buchanan Galleries are pitched at the slightly more upmarket end of Glasgow's shopping mix (the nearby Princes Square, for instance, is dominated by high-end fashion retailers, while the St Enoch Centre is firmly mid-market), although the developer says that having a combination of big retailers and lesser-known brands - "unexpected boutique shops" - is vital. "Variety is what matters," says Venner. "As well as high street names, we hope to attract brands which have not been seen in Britain before." Delivering the best environment to retailers and shoppers is another important factor. "We want retailers to have their best store or catering outlet here, so Buchanan Galleries offers the best in choice and quality," he says.
The Buchanan Galleries development should further enhance Glasgow's reputation as Britain's biggest shopping destination outside London. Says Venner: "One of the greatest things is that it is in the UK's second best retail city, at the top of Glasgow's busiest shopping street. Our plans for Buchanan Galleries will not only further strengthen Glasgow's retail position, but will also provide this vibrant city with one of the UK's largest shopping centres."