Plans to rebuild two prominent corners of Albert Cross in Glasgow are moving forward more than six years after devastating fires destroyed homes and businesses in the heart of Pollokshields.
Glasgow City Council is preparing to use compulsory purchase powers to acquire two gap sites at Albert Drive and Kenmure Street, while architects have been invited to design new tenement-style buildings intended to restore the historic junction.
The sites were previously occupied by two B-listed corner tenements within the East Pollokshields Conservation Area. The first, at 187–193 Albert Drive and 159 Kenmure Street, was badly damaged by fire on 10 November 2019 and demolished shortly afterwards. It had contained three commercial premises on the ground floor and four flats above.
A second fire on 10 April 2020 destroyed the roof and internal flats of the tenement at 143–147 Kenmure Street and 194–198 Albert Drive. The external walls initially remained standing, but the damaged building was eventually demolished in July 2025 after part of the structure collapsed. It had previously contained four businesses and four flats.
Together, the two buildings contained eight homes and seven commercial properties before the fires. Both occupied prominent corners of Albert Cross and featured traditional sandstone construction with elaborate corner bays and turrets.
The council says their loss has left significant gaps in the streetscape and removed businesses, homes and an important part of the area’s architectural heritage.
One site has remained vacant and increasingly overgrown since 2019, while the opposite corner was fenced off for several years because of the condition of the fire-damaged building. Redevelopment has been complicated by the way the properties were owned.
Each site had seven individual owners. The 2019 building had a common insurance policy, with insurers subsequently paying what was due, but the council says the owners have shown no indication that they intend to rebuild.
The second building did not have common block insurance. Glasgow City Council has therefore met demolition and clearance costs, while further work is required to exposed walls on neighbouring properties. Owners have indicated that they are not in a position to redevelop the site and would be prepared to relinquish their interests.
Council officials have concluded that redevelopment is unlikely without public intervention because of the fragmented ownership and high costs associated with rebuilding on the two small conservation-area sites.
A report published in November last year states that the completed development, including ground-floor shops, is currently valued at around £1.725 million, while the cost of developing the sites is expected to exceed that figure. The council accepts that public funding may therefore be required to bridge the gap.
Glasgow City Council has now launched the Albert Cross Design Contest, with Glasgow architectural teams invited to submit proposals by 21 September 2026. Three teams are expected to be shortlisted to develop more detailed and costed designs.
The council wants contemporary tenement-style development which respects the character of East Pollokshields while restoring active street frontage to Albert Drive and Kenmure Street.
The design brief calls for commercial or other active uses at ground-floor level with homes above, reflecting the traditional form of the surrounding neighbourhood. The two buildings should also be designed together so that they respond to one another at the prominent junction.
Councillor Ruairi Kelly, Glasgow’s convener for housing, development, built heritage and land use, said the competition was intended to bring homes and businesses back to a location which had been central to community life in Pollokshields for generations.
The wider ambition is that the winning design could also provide ideas for dealing with other difficult gap sites beside historic tenements elsewhere in Glasgow.
There is no developer currently appointed to build the scheme.
The council’s preferred approach is to acquire the land either through agreement with the individual owners or, where necessary, compulsory purchase. The sites could then be transferred to a developer capable of taking forward the winning design.
Glasgow’s Contracts and Property Committee is due to consider the proposed compulsory purchase of both sites on 27 August.
If approved, the process would give the council a route to assemble the fragmented ownership and finally move towards rebuilding the prominent gaps left by the fires.