Sauchiehall Street to close on Sunday for replacement of trees

A section of Sauchiehall Street is set to be closed this coming Sunday to facilitate the replacement of two trees.

The semi-mature trees form part of the Sauchiehall Avenue project, a significant renovation programmed aimed at making the city centre street more pedestrian and cycle-friendly.

Glasgow City Council have confirmed the trees will be replaced with alternatives as the ones in situ 'didn't establish themselves' after being planted.

A spokesperson confirmed: "This coming Sunday (between 7am – 6pm), two trees on Sauchiehall Avenue will be planted to replace semi-mature trees which just did not take being moved from their nursery to Sauchiehall Street and didn’t establish themselves.

"Semi-mature trees typically fail in such environments in one in 10 cases, so two failing in 26 trees on Sauchiehall Avenue is well within that range.

"The replacements are going to be a Ginkgo and Ulmus, both of which are doing very well and are species which have shown significant growth elsewhere on Sauchiehall Avenue.

"To allow this work to take place, Sauchiehall Street will be closed during that time between Garnet Street to Pitt Street / Scott Street, and Holland Street from Sauchiehall Street to Sauchiehall Lane will also be closed."

Meanwhile, the council have published figures which show an increase of over 80% in cycling in the area since the substantial urban realm works in the heart of Glasgow city centre.

The £115million Avenues programme is a quality place-making scheme targeting 17 key streets and adjacent areas in Glasgow city centre.

The council confirmed: "The latest figures – as measured from where Sauchiehall Street meets Charing Cross - show the success of Sauchiehall Avenue in terms of attracting cyclists to use it: from 2018-2020, there was an 80.8% increase in the number of cyclists using the route to get into the city centre, and a massive 606.3% increase in those using the route to leave the city centre on their bikes."

For more on the Avenues project, you can visit the Glasgow City Council website here.