Plan to demolish Buchanan Galleries ditched amid major revision

The proposal – which was set to “replace” Buchannan Galleries with a multi-purpose shopping, residential and office quarter – was submitted by architects Foster and Partners, who is understood to no longer be attached to the development.

Buchanan Galleries’ owner, Landsec, has since told The Architects’ Journal it is now in favour of an “incremental” project and confirmed future plans will “retain” the current building as the “anchor” for a new district instead of demolish it.

In a recent annual report, the group stated: “This new approach will improve overall returns by retaining more of the existing income and growing this, alongside discrete development interventions.

“We are still finalising our plans, but this will likely result in less embodied carbon, lower risk and less capital intensive routes to realising the potential of these mixed-use estates.”

The £800 million would have seen new public squares created, new streets with street-level entry to shops and Buchanan Street opened up through to Killermont Street and Buchanan Bus Station.

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A Landsec spokesperson said: “In Glasgow we are evolving our plans to focus more on masterplans that can be delivered in incremental phases. Alongside this we will seek to embrace opportunities to retain and reinvent existing buildings in our ambition to reduce embodied carbon.”

The latest plan is the second set of designs to be scrapped. In 2015, BDP also scrapped their plans for the revamp which also included a potential change to the Royal Concert Hall steps.

Labour MSP Paul Sweeney, who has called for the steps remain as they are, reacted to the news, stating: “While their outline proposal to restore the traditional grid street plan in this part of the city centre was welcome, their plan to wreck a principal façade of Sir Leslie Martin’s final building, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, was deeply unwelcome and I hope that any revised approach will be more respectful to this civic landmark, which should be listed.”

It is unclear whether New Practice, a Glasgow firm, and Michael Laird Architects remain on the job.