August 21 2025

A defunct city centre office block is to give way to yet more student flats under detailed proposals submitted by Russ Drage Architects.

Following earlier consultations, the architects have returned with plans to replace the block with a 14-storey structure containing 259 student beds along with associated amenity areas and rooftop gardens.

Adjoining the recently completed Cadworks building, the development will address a prominent corner in the grid-iron CBD with a more exuberant crown inspired by the elaborate office building which occupied the site until the 1980s. Taking the form of a zinc mansard roof, the crown is topped by an outdoor roof terrace accessible from the main stair and lift core.

In their design statement, the architects wrote: "The result is both a nod to the chateau-style roofed building that originally occupied the site of 38 Cadogan Street, and the civic pride of the magnificent headquarters buildings constructed by Glasgow's merchants and businessmen."

Sitting on a 2.5m plinth with glazed openings set between square columns clad in reconstituted stone panels. In contrast, the sandstone panel midsection will be a classical arrangement of deep-set windows.

The upper ground floor level glazing to the reception is set back by 3m from the main facade on the Blythswood Street frontage to form an open-sided colonnade.  

15 Comments

#1 Posted by Pedro on 21 Aug 2025 at 10:34 AM

How many students are there in Glasgow?! There are so many cranes across the city just now - which is great - but appears to be only student accommodation developments. Even the mixed tenure sites seem to be only building the student element (Dandara site at Anderston Quay) - we must be hitting saturation point soon?

#2 Posted by John on 21 Aug 2025 at 11:10 AM

A quick internet search shows there are 186,000 students from 140 countries at further education institutions in Glasgow. That’s a lot of people looking for somewhere to stay. It has taken about 10 years to increase the accommodation level by 6000 rooms. Not trying to justify all this but this city is now a university city whether people like it or not.

#3 Posted by John on 21 Aug 2025 at 11:20 AM

#1 yes it seems every square bit of land in Glasgow is student housing now. When is it going to change to actual housing or other amenities that the city needs

#4 Posted by TheFakeArchitect on 21 Aug 2025 at 11:21 AM

I'll leave out any comments in relation to the buildings use as no doubt this will dominate the comments, but I actually quite like this one. Nice to see something more appealing done with the roof and not just the usual dull, flat roof terrace, or those silly columns with nothing behind that seems to be doing the rounds of late.

#5 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 21 Aug 2025 at 11:49 AM

Maths is not the strong point for too many now -- I blame the schools.

186K as the Glasgow student population -- the figure might need some work / some clarification / some context.

The number is crap or it includes day release and apprenticeships.

#6 Posted by Sigmund Freud on 21 Aug 2025 at 11:53 AM

#4 - 'or those silly columns with nothing behind'?
Well thats bit drastic init? There goes a lot of Giuseppe Terragni's work, never mind Francesco Borromini's - in fact come to think of it the list is endless. it would seem that the unconscious metastasis of cancel culture knows no bounds.

#7 Posted by Hairy Hips on 21 Aug 2025 at 12:27 PM

@number 3 - probably when 'actual housing or other amenities' stack up financially.

Private sector invests in things that make a return - there currently is no return on social housing as the cost to build & finance is much, much more than the rental returns. Student flats stack up due to higher rents and are fundable at the moment. Very little else is.

#8 Posted by town planner on 21 Aug 2025 at 12:43 PM

What a difference using sandstone makes to the overall appearance, more of this please!

#9 Posted by TheFakeArchitect on 21 Aug 2025 at 13:58 PM

Sigmund, are you really comparing those works to some of the recent architecture around Glasgow..
C'mon!

#10 Posted by TepidMouse on 21 Aug 2025 at 14:07 PM

Put simply, the more student accommodation we can get built, the more flats we free up for the rest of the population. Students are still taking up a large amount of flatted accommodation in Glasgow. All fine back in the day but not when the city is desperate for housing. Every student unit frees up a tenement or flat in the city. Add to this that Glasgow was the fastest growing area in Scotland in the year to 2024 (latest population statistics from ScotGov). The city added 11,540 souls, a full 5,000 more than the next biggest total increase at Edinburgh (6,540). All this talk of student accommodation being a bad thing is not being thought through. Glasgow is retaining people like never before, the city needs to keep building all tenures of housing.

#11 Posted by James Hepburn on 21 Aug 2025 at 14:53 PM

Imagine councillors put as much energy into developing accommodation for Glaswegians to live in. They seem intent instead on concentrating on student accommodation and housing for illegal immigrants.

#12 Posted by Georwell84 on 21 Aug 2025 at 15:22 PM

#10 I agree with that. It is not as if we don't have space, central Glasgow is only half full. Just wish student accom was utilised in areas that need it. What a couple of thousand students could do for the Bridge Street area!

#13 Posted by John03 on 22 Aug 2025 at 12:07 PM

In response to James Hepburn, councillors play no role in proposing purpose-built student accommodation in the city. These proposals originate with privately funded development cash, not available to the council. Where the council might assist private renters is if fewer licences for multiple occupancy private flats were automatically renewed, particularly around the city centre and west end.

#14 Posted by Jake Janobs on 22 Aug 2025 at 16:56 PM

#5, #3 - there were around 104,000 HE students in 2023/24, if you include UWS - see here: https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/students/where-study . This doesn't include FE students, or adjust for those who are local and still live at home.

#15 Posted by Mark on 23 Aug 2025 at 11:20 AM

#4 - Agreed, the mansard roof is proportionate, looks tidily detailed and the zinc cladding should sit well against the sandstone. I think this improves the balance of the elevations.

#6 - Not a great comparison: this isn’t the work of Giuseppe Terragni, nor even his cousin’s pal’s dog. I’m sure you know fine well that a colonnade along the building line with inset ground & first floor cladding behind it has become a design cliché for the 21st century.

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