Plans to build around 1,000 homes on one of Glasgow’s largest areas of derelict land have moved a major step forward.
Glasgow City Council has backed proposals to create an investment partnership with the Scottish National Investment Bank and Aviva Capital Partners to regenerate the 30-hectare Cowlairs site in the north of the city.
The land, between Possilpark and Keppochhill Road, has been largely vacant and derelict for around three decades. The latest plans envisage transforming it into a new mixed-tenure neighbourhood with around 1,000 homes, including social and affordable housing.
Councillors on the City Administration Committee approved the latest stage of the project on 20 August, allowing the three organisations to move towards finalising an investment partnership agreement, subject to approval by each of the partners.
Around one third of the proposed homes are expected to be social or affordable housing, with the remainder potentially including private homes and properties for rent.
The development would be constructed in three main phases, each delivering roughly a third of the homes. The first phase is expected to concentrate on the parts of the site that are easiest to develop.
The proposals are significantly larger than earlier plans for Cowlairs. Glasgow’s previous housing investment programme envisaged around 850 homes, while an earlier 2019 masterplan was based on a smaller development.
Cowlairs has proved difficult to develop because of its industrial past. The site contains historic mine workings and a disused mineshaft, while its topography and the amount of new infrastructure required have added to the cost and complexity of bringing the land back into use.
The new investment model is intended to make a development viable by bringing together council-owned land and long-term institutional investment.
The overall scheme has been estimated at around £270 million, although further work is required before construction can begin.
Council leader Susan Aitken said the project could create a new walkable neighbourhood adjoining Saracen Street and deliver much-needed family housing during Glasgow’s continuing housing emergency.
She said: “The ambition to create a whole new walkable neighbourhood adjoining one of Glasgow’s most famous thoroughfares in Saracen St, with a commitment to quality, design-led higher-density family housing will create a new standard for modern urban design in Scotland.”
The council is expected to retain a degree of long-term control over the development, while a refreshed masterplan will determine the final layout, housing mix, streets, open space and other infrastructure.
Residents in Possilpark and surrounding communities will also have an opportunity to comment as the proposals progress towards the planning stage.
Cowlairs forms part of a much larger regeneration programme across north Glasgow.
Along with Sighthill, Dundashill, Hamiltonhill and Possilpark, the major regeneration areas are expected eventually to deliver more than 5,500 homes on former industrial and underused land.
Major infrastructure investment has already taken place across the north of the city, including work linked to Glasgow’s Smart Canal project, which is designed to manage surface water and unlock previously difficult sites for development.
The next stages at Cowlairs will include completing the partnership arrangements, further design and feasibility work and preparation of a planning application.
If the project proceeds, enabling and construction work would then take place in phases over a number of years.