April 21 2023

The A-listed Italian Renaissance-style High School of Glasgow, vacant since the exit of Police Scotland in 2013, is to be transformed into an upmarket hotel.

The Scotsman Group, the owner of the Scotsman Hotel in Edinburgh, has commissioned Convery Prenty Shields Architects to oversee the transformation, securing the long-term future of the Elmbank Street buildings which suffer from extensive water damage.

Detailed proposals for The Scotsman Hotel Glasgow include a mix of uses for different buildings including serviced apartments, hotel rooms and public areas; retaining key features such as a 22m chimney.

Citing several roofs as 'structurally unsavable the proposals will see affected roofs stripped back to the wallhead and replaced by a mansard-style lead roof with roundhead dormers to provide additional usable space.

In a proposal statement, the applicant wrote: "At present the boarded, damaged and dilapidated building stock is a significant visual blight on the entire surrounding area. Originally built as a beacon of learning and education, the current building stock portrays an unsafe and unsettling experience for pedestrians and a barrier between the development and the passerby.

"With the significant amount of investment in the city block and the vast levels of new build development in the immediate adjacent area, the redevelopment of this architectural gem will epitomise the regeneration of this prominent city centre location."

Another key intervention sees a new cloister built in front of a 3.7m retaining wall on Holland Street to provide shelter for guests moving from the gatehouse bar and function rooms. A post-modern CCTV control room meanwhile is to be demolished, permitting the construction of a spa building. 

6 Comments

#1 Posted by James Hepburn on 21 Apr 2023 at 14:08 PM

Someone needs to look up the meaning of radical here.

#2 Posted by pooka on 21 Apr 2023 at 19:21 PM

the extension on the right could win an award
and not a good one

#3 Posted by Roddy_ on 21 Apr 2023 at 19:59 PM

Good god.

What has the old High School done to deserve such a clumsy and ineglegant solution? Looks like 5 different designers have had a wee go and those dormers to new mansards are straight out of 1981.
This can't possibly be consented as this stands... can it?

#4 Posted by Aaron on 21 Apr 2023 at 23:17 PM

Looks good. If you can't accept it now, then it'll be left to rot until it gets demolished. Glad this developer is taking initiative.

#5 Posted by Fush and Chups on 23 Apr 2023 at 14:34 PM

Happy to see this site redeveloped. Proposals for the new parts/extensions look awful. 20 million pounds is not enough money to properly restore the existing complex, let alone build and extend.
I would hope it goes through several more iterations, along with a realistic budget increase.

#6 Posted by OssianLore on 24 Apr 2023 at 10:52 AM

I have no issue with the principle of this but this proposal is horrendously inelegant and tacky, in particular those glazed connections between the north and south wings blocking the traditional pedestrian routes through the site.

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