Glasgow unveils £205m waterside neighbourhood project

Plans to transform a vacant site into a £205m waterside neighbourhood have been unveiled in Glasgow.

Outline planning application for the development of a four-acre site at Lancefield Quay - which will contain 730 homes - has been submitted by Moda Living, investor Osborne + Co and MRP, the property development and investment division of McAleer & Rushe.

If permission is granted, Moda Living will take the site through detailed planning, delivery and into operation, marking Moda’s second site in Glasgow and third in Scotland, making it the country’s largest build-to-rent operator. It will form part of Moda’s overall pipeline of best-in-class rental homes, which currently consists of 18,400 homes worth a combined £6bn.  

The application has been made under the joint venture name of GDRI Europe (Osborne+Co and MRP) and Moda Living. It follows a public consultation which took place in February and provided local people with the opportunity to view and feedback on the residential-led proposals. 

The homes will be of "high quality" and accompanied by modern amenities designed with tech and wellbeing in mind. 

The development will regenerate a site that has lain vacant since 2007, driving the regeneration of the city quarter and linking it with the Scottish Entertainment Campus and Media Quarter, as well as the cosmopolitan Finnieston area which has undergone its own transformation in recent years.  

Moda’s flagship Scottish development, Moda, The McEwan, launched in October and has been awarded the first ever 3-star Fitwel certification in Europe, a global accreditation that ranks a building’s design and operation in terms of supporting the physical, mental and social health of its occupants. Work also started earlier this year on its Holland Park development in Glasgow with a total investment of c. £125m into the city.   

Oscar Brooks, Director, Moda Living, said Glasgow is a well-connected, forward-looking city which boasts a strong local economy and focused on growth. Construction of its 425-home Holland Park development is well advanced.

"We are excited to have the opportunity to develop our vision for the Lancefield Quay site and to be working alongside Osborne+Co and MRP as we bring forward a long vacant site," he said.

“This forms part of our wider strategy and integrated structure to enable us to deliver and operate thousands of high-quality homes per annum right across the UK. We are delivering different types of homes at different price points for different lifestyle requirements driven by Moda brand foundations of unparalleled customer service, member health & wellbeing and a market leading digital infrastructure.”   

Stephen Surphlis, Managing Director of MRP, which has numerous major development projects in leading cities throughout the UK, said the development can have a positive impact on the regeneration of an historic and important area of Glasgow.

"The community consultation provided us with valuable feedback, with more than 90 per cent of people in support of the residential offering and agreeing that Glasgow needs new homes. The creation of well designed, well crafted and sustainable homes is high on the council’s agenda and the Lancefield Quay site is ideally located to provide a thriving build-to-rent development which will fit in perfectly with the fabric of the area.”  

Conor Osborne, Director and Founder of Osborne+Co, said the application marks an important milestone for what it hopes will be a truly transformational development for this area.

"We have taken a strategic approach to these initial proposals and worked hard to ensure they align with Glasgow City Council’s wider regeneration ambitions to open up the waterfront and create a vibrant new location within the city. Moda’s involvement in the site will help us realise this ambition to create a single fully integrated development and we are looking forward to continued discussion with the council.” 

Elsewhere, construction work is now underway on a 44-home development for Shettleston Housing Association.

Paisley-based construction firm, The JR Group, has started site preparation and construction works on the former St Mark’s school site on the edge of Tollcross Park. Work is expected to be completed over a 16-month period and all the family homes should be ready for new residents by early March 2023.

The 44 homes for social rent will comprise eight cottage flats, 17 family homes, and 19 flats. Private and communal gardens, parking and amenity space will also be delivered as part of the contract.

In collaboration with the Urban Big Data Centre (UBDC), a research centre and national data service, researchers from Sheffield’s Urban Flows Observatory have received funding from the UKRI-ESRC to develop means to monitor the environmental performance of the urban housing stock in Glasgow, using a range of sensing tools (click here).