SCOTTISH Government ministers have intervened on a controversial development on Glasgow’s Sauchiehall Street, and will now make the final decision on whether it can go ahead.
In a notice published by the Planning and Environmental Appeals Division (DPEA), stakeholders were informed that SNP ministers had taken control of the decision on the future of the half-demolished O2 ABC site “in view of the proposed development’s potential impact on the nationally important Category A-listed Glasgow School of Art”.
The plans, which were approved by Glasgow City Council on June 17, are for a nine-storey block of student flats, which would include a ground-floor food hall, a pub, a takeaway, and various landscaping works at 292–332 Sauchiehall Street.
A motion lodged at the Scottish Parliament by Labour MSP Paul Sweeney earlier this month claimed that the development would also encroach on “key vistas” from the A-listed Centre for Contemporary Arts, designed by Alexander "Greek" Thomson.
Glasgow MSP Sweeney said: “It's quite clear that the scale of the proposed development that was conditionally approved is completely inappropriate in the context of the Glasgow School of Art.
“If that's the only viable form of development on that site, then clearly the whole master plan for redeveloping the Glasgow School of Art needs to be rethought.”
The Labour MSP said this could involve a trust or the Glasgow School of Art taking ownership of the site, a venue, a museum, or exhibition space, affordable housing alongside student housing, or a combination of everything. “That’s the scale of thinking we need,” he added.
“It's quite clear that the Scottish Government has taken a view that this does in fact merit their direct scrutiny.
“It's quite unusual for them to call in an application of this nature. I would hope that they would be minded to reject the application altogether – or at the very least impose conditions that significantly reduce its height.”
Glasgow's heritage groups have welcomed the news, after previously slamming the council's decision to approve the plans.
Stuart Robertson, director of the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society, said: "I'm really pleased to see these not well thought through plans opened up for the kind of discussion they should have had in the first place.
"The planning meeting seemed to include people who were really ill-informed about the whole thing. The hearing not being voted for was a mistake.
"They were discussing the A-listed Mack like it didn't exist.
"If these plans had been able to pass straight through, it would've opened up a can of worms for our city's heritage."
Niall Murphy, director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, said it was "inevitable" that the plans would be called in.
He said: "There was an inevitability about this, given the national issues involved and also that there were issues in terms of relations to Glasgow's own planning policies with regards to the historic built environment.
"Obviously, if something is affecting the A-listed Mackintosh, even if the Glasgow School of Art is not in a happy state at the moment, it will inevitably be restored at some point.
"It is arguably the most important building in the city, and we need to acknowledge that somehow, and so it would be nice to see a little bit more sensitivity to the context.
"I'm sure there's a win-win solution here where the developers could adjust their proposal accordingly and everybody walks away happy. So we'll see."
At the planning meeting on June 17 at which the plans were approved, Glasgow councillors were told that the proposal was made "as compact as it can viably be", despite the "admitted negative impact on the heritage buildings in the area".
Ahead of the meeting, the Glasgow School of Art said the Sauchiehall Street plans put the rebuild of the A-listed Mackintosh building "at significant risk".
Councillor Sean Ferguson spoke up during the meeting about the rebuild of the Mackintosh building. He said: "What context are we to consider this in? In no other situation would we be considering the impact on a burnt-out ruin of a building."
Councillor Eva Bolander refuted claims that the Glasgow School of Art had no concrete plans to rebuild the architect's work.
Professor Penny Macbeth, director and principal of the Glasgow School of Art, responded to the claims made in the meeting.
She made it clear that there was a "stated commitment" from the Art School and that work was "currently being undertaken" for the reinstatement of the Mack.
The chair of the meeting, Councillor Ken Andrew, approved. He said: "It's with some regret that I will support this.
"On balance, I think that the benefits of developing the site outweigh the negatives."
