December 6 2022

High Street Architects have returned to Glasgow's Gallowgate with downsized plans for 22 apartments built around a parking pend.

The proposed redevelopment of a run of retail units at 419 Gallowgate is reduced from a previous application for 42 flats, even as the number of parking spaces jumps from 12 to 22.

The brick design affords a private balcony to each resident, with the wheelchair-accessible ground floor and vertically-proportioned windows emphasised by changes in brick bond, pattern and colour.

Explaining the need for a change in approach the architects wrote: "Following feedback from our formal pre-application consultations with the council and a failed previous application, we have adjusted the quality of the aesthetics of the design to arrive at a solution we feel is more characteristic of the Gallowgate frontage as it exists today."

The new homes immediately adjoin the Graham Square development.  

13 Comments

#1 Posted by monkey9000 on 6 Dec 2022 at 10:15 AM

Interesting interpretation of the title "Architect" no sign of High Street Architects or Ash Architectural on the ARB Register...

#2 Posted by Ash Bushter on 6 Dec 2022 at 10:36 AM

It's funny how Ash Architectural and High Shtreet Arshitects are not lishted on Arb?? Maybe Shimon could elaborate, musht be shome mishtake!

#3 Posted by Just to clarify on 6 Dec 2022 at 11:02 AM

High Street Architects not listed on ARB but Mr Ash is.

#4 Posted by monkey9000 on 6 Dec 2022 at 11:31 AM

Ah yes, monkey's mistake Mr Ash is listed on the ARB, a friend of the PCC. No wonder the naming is so opaque.

#5 Posted by Daniel on 6 Dec 2022 at 16:12 PM

Mock Art Deco is certainly a unique look.

Its less grim than the previous one but somehow that render of the rear looking onto the car park is somehow more grim than anything from before. Amazing work.

#6 Posted by Jesus Christ on 6 Dec 2022 at 21:55 PM

There space for 5 businesses there, and that should remain. This heinous turd is horrific.

#7 Posted by Roddy_ on 7 Dec 2022 at 01:08 AM

The previous iteration was among the worst things I've seen in nearly 30 odd years of paying attention to architecture in the city and this is in the same category. You get a feel for what is right in the context of the site, the scale of the site and the adjacent buildings and materials and this just looks plucked out of the ether. There is so much that is odd about this - I wasn't sure if it was a serious application but in some sense it must be given that someone has paid for this. The strange double wings and no-mans-land in between, the triple projections above the windows penetrating that strange cornice , the total lack of amenity space and the stripey plinth. Odd and not in a good way.
The planning dept has consented some rough-as-hell stuff in the past 5-10 years but this will not pass muster this time either. The Design and Access Statement is just asking for a refusal.

#8 Posted by modernish on 7 Dec 2022 at 09:42 AM

Congratulations to all involved.
Literally, the worst scheme on Urban Realm ever. Help yourself to a pat on the back on the way out.

#9 Posted by G Man on 7 Dec 2022 at 11:12 AM

#7 I too have been following development in the city since the emergence of the likes of the SECC and the Concert Hall, I was a schoolkid then. In recent years I have seen some stunning potential additions to the cityscape refused for the strangest of reasons at that dumping ground across the canal from Speirs Wharf, Finnieston Police Station among others. Developers are trying to encourage growth, developers see potential but it appears the council do not.

In this proposal we have verandas looking into a wall, a nice view!

#10 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 7 Dec 2022 at 12:58 PM

Total dog -- it is the roaring 20's a century too late.

I think somebody knocked this up as a joke.

#11 Posted by Neil on 8 Dec 2022 at 10:24 AM

Whatever you think of the scheme, the comments on here are so toxic. Merry christmas everyone. x

#12 Posted by Glasgow Bob on 8 Dec 2022 at 13:31 PM

#11 thanks - no comment yourself?

#13 Posted by Neil C on 8 Dec 2022 at 17:19 PM

Neil, no relation, makes a valid point. The comments on here are usually highly critical of all projects that appear and often toxic. Consequently and sadly as a forum to discuss much needed and relevant issues in architecture it fails. So when something like this appears, that deserves criticism, comments are ignored. That's very sad.

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