49 homes planned for Pacific Quay plot left empty since 1988 Garden Festival
Council officials back plans for two blocks of flats on land left untouched since 1988, but MSP Paul Sweeney calls the design 'completely inappropriate'.
Open ground at Pacific Quay, Glasgow. File photo. · Photograph: wfmillar (CC BY-SA 2.0)
A patch of rough grassland at Pacific Quay that has lain empty since the Glasgow Garden Festival closed in 1988 could finally be built on.
Surplus Property Investments wants to build 49 two and three-bedroom flats on the site in Govan, in two blocks of six and five storeys arranged in an L-shape around landscaped grounds. The plans include balconies, a roof terrace, a ground-floor shop, 32 parking spaces and 60 cycle spaces.
Officials say yes
Glasgow City Council officials are recommending approval, and councillors will decide next week. A council report said residential-led development on the vacant brownfield site was acceptable and would contribute positively to the character of Pacific Quay.
The wider area has been transformed since the Garden Festival, with the BBC and STV headquarters, Glasgow Science Centre, hotels, offices and homes. A similar scheme on the same site was approved in 2022, and the developer says the new plans mirror that design.
'One of the worst-designed waterfronts in Europe'
But the plans have attracted 12 objections from people concerned about traffic, parking and overlooking.
Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney objected, saying island-style blocks surrounded by car parking were completely inappropriate in an inner-city location. He said Pacific Quay was one of the worst-designed waterfront developments in Europe and called for a traditional tenement-style block instead.
After nearly four decades, the site's future now rests with councillors.