June 26 2023

The Scottish Prison Service has taken forward plans for HMP Glasgow at Provanmill with detailed plans for the erection of five cross-plan house blocks.

Replacing nearby HMP Barlinnie the new jail is being delivered by Holmes Miller Architects and Kier Construction at the former Provan Gas Works in Germiston, beneath two listed gas holders dating from 1900.

Split between sterile arrivals zone, prisoner facilities and cells the prison has seen a reduction in wing sizes of the latter from 30 to 20, resulting in five smaller house blocks replacing three larger units as originally envisaged to support the wellbeing of inmates and staff.

In a supporting statement, Holmes Miller wrote: "The front of house building, given its direct association with Royston Road, and its function as a community facility, requires a high quality, civic presence, with an open and welcoming appearance. The 2 storey façade directly facing the entrance plaza allows a balance between appropriate scale and impact, a sensitive human scale.

"The prominence of the house blocks from the transient viewpoints on the M8 motorway is of particular importance. The approach to materials and colour refers directly to the character and materiality of traditional and contemporary urban housing, such as tenements and mid-rise apartments."

Each prefabricated cellblock is formed predominantly from facing brick with areas of textured rain-screen cladding and painted pre-cast concrete.  

4 Comments

#1 Posted by GlasgowSmilesBetter on 26 Jun 2023 at 13:05 PM

An A-Z of how to make a bleak area of city even worse. Good job all involved ...

#2 Posted by MV on 26 Jun 2023 at 17:44 PM

It looks like every other jail, I mean school, that HM do?

#3 Posted by Bob Smith on 27 Jun 2023 at 14:47 PM

Looks thoroughly depressing.
If they set out to punish the occupants by architecture then they have surely succeeded.

#4 Posted by Fireman Samson on 28 Jun 2023 at 22:42 PM

Wow.

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