New development aside, existing buildings can be repurposed for new uses, including homes to ensure a mixed and vibrant community. But what are the barriers to our heritage assets being developed for other uses including housing?
How can we promote and support the repurposing and retrofitting of existing buildings within the historic fabric of our city centres?
22 Aug 23
The eyes of the world were focused on Glasgow and Scotland again this month, hosts for the UCI Cycling World Championships. As the cyclists raced their way around our city’s streets, the television cameras also captured the poor state of many of the existing older buildings in the city centre. The buildings that form the backdrop to our historic city centres should be supported and their reuse and redevelopment incentivised.
Last week also saw the presentation of ‘The Golden Z’. Glasgow City Council’s new vision for the city centre’s main retail areas, Sauchiehall Street, Buchanan Street and Argyle Street, lined as they are with lots of empty buildings, especially above street level. The demolition of The St Enoch and The Buchanan Galleries shopping centres also forms part of these plans. The proposed new developments will adopt a mixed-use approach, which will reinstate more traditional street layouts and restore wider connections and greater permeability.
New development aside, existing buildings can be repurposed for new uses, including homes to ensure a mixed and vibrant community. But what are the barriers to our heritage assets being developed for other uses including housing?
Evidently there is the issue of cost. Repurposing buildings is expensive and can come with hidden surprises. VAT rates needs to be aligned between retrofit and new build development to ensure a level playing field. Short term costs may be more, but long-term gains are less quantifiable, and do not figure on a spreadsheet. We need to think longer term.
Some building owners are simply not prepared to pay the extra cost required for repurposing. As a result, some Local Authorities have been exploring the mechanism of Compulsory Purchase, but incentivising redevelopment with financial assistance is the way to close the economic gap. We need carrots, not sticks!
Not all buildings are suitable for reuse. Some may need to be replaced in order that our cities can become more densely populated and active. As Susan Aitken, Leader of Glasgow City Council said at the Golden Z presentation it cannot always be about ‘bemoaning a past that we will never be able to recreate.’ We need to embrace change as well as heritage.
Finally, repurposing for other uses can be hindered by planning legislation, with reuse often scuppered by proximity, aspect, amenity, refuse and access standards that are suited to new build developments on greenfield land. We need a more nuanced approach to many of these issues, to allow for more flexibility when adapting irregular building layouts. Our cities are an eclectic mix of building typologies and ages, and we need to adopt less of a one size fits all approach, in order to make our cities more mixed, vibrant, densely populated and ultimately sustainable.
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How can we promote and support the repurposing and retrofitting of existing buildings within the historic fabric of our city centres?
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