Glasgow’s Egyptian Halls has moved a step closer to being saved after councillors approved funding of £600,000 today (Thursday 5 November).
The council will provide developer Ediston with up to £600,000 to advance plans to bring the category A-listed building back into use.
The Egyptian Halls on Union Street have stood largely empty for decades, with scaffolding covering Alexander “Greek” Thomson’s landmark building for more than 15 years.
Ediston wants to convert the upper floors of the Egyptian Halls into a hotel, with leisure uses on the lower levels.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Convener for Housing, Development and Built Heritage at Glasgow City Council, said: “This award is another key stage in the work to bring back to life an outstanding example of Glasgow’s built heritage.
“The funding will help to support the development of an exciting proposal to return what is a long-term vacant and deteriorating heritage building back to full and productive use.The redevelopment and repurposing of fantastic historic buildings such as this is a key part of our strategy to create even more attractive and remarkable places in our city centre.”
The money will fund technical and professional work required to develop Ediston’s proposal and help negotiations over a potential “back-to-back” compulsory purchase order.
Under that process, the council could acquire the building before transferring it to the developer to carry out the redevelopment.
A council report states: “It is proposed that committee approves the funding award to Ediston of up to £600,000 from the Productive Use Fund to undertake the agreed technical and professional work required to develop the preferred proposal and inform negotiations on the back-to-back CPO.”
The money will come from Glasgow’s £10 million Bringing Property and Land back into Productive Use Fund.
Ediston was selected as the council’s preferred developer after proposals were sought for the repair and reuse of the Egyptian Halls.
Its bid was chosen ahead of proposals submitted by the building’s current owners and another developer.
The upper floors of the Egyptian Halls have been vacant and derelict for more than 30 years and the property has appeared on Scotland’s Buildings at Risk Register since the register was established in 1990.
Council officials have previously warned that the condition of the building has continued to deteriorate and that without intervention there is an increased risk of significant failure of its fabric.
The council describes the Egyptian Halls as one of the masterpieces of Alexander Thomson’s architectural legacy in Glasgow.
It is also one of the few surviving large-scale commercial buildings designed by the celebrated 19th-century architect.
Attempts to find a viable future for the building have repeatedly stalled.
The owners received consent for repair schemes during the early and mid-2000s. An application to demolish the property was refused in 2011, while planning permission and listed building consent were subsequently granted for a hotel development in 2012.
None of those schemes was delivered.
Glasgow City Council agreed in February 2025 to investigate using compulsory purchase powers after concluding there was no viable scheme progressing under the existing ownership.
It subsequently approved an initial £150,000 grant towards the eventual redevelopment, to be released against agreed milestones during the renovation and reuse of the building.
The latest £600,000 grant will allow considerably more detailed work to be carried out as the council and Ediston seek to establish whether the hotel and leisure scheme can be delivered.
Thus funding approval represents another significant step in an attempt to bring an end to more than three decades of uncertainty over the future of the Union Street landmark.