r/Glasgow Tools

Title
Author	Scunnered20
Comment	Would caution everyone to understand that the "could see 2000 parking spaces go" has been pulled out as a headline expected to garner most clicks and attention. There's a lot of meat to the bones of this proposal, it's quite far down the line, and it would be worth reading up more on the reasons behind it rather than reacting on impulse to this headline alone. https://buchanangalleries.co.uk/about-re-development-project First among the reasons this is happening: * The site is privately owned and much like owners of other shopping centres across Scotland, the UK and indeed the rest of the world, they see the writing on the wall in terms of dwindling return-value on their asset. Internet shopping isn't going anywhere, and the bottom has fallen out from underneath the long-term business plan of relatively monoculture shopping sites like BG. Shopping centres/malls might have made exceedingly good business sense 20-30 years ago when built, and some of them (BG is one of the few examples) might still be bumping along okay, but demand and the subsequent rents they can command are only going one direction: down. Owners increasingly see that rent derived from housing (or at least mixed use) is a much surer bet now, and so that's the direction their investments are moving in. It's good news though, if this and the similar St Enoch Centre redevelopment plans are seen through. There's an insatiable demand for housing, and this means more people living in the city centre. Streets and gridplan reinstated, removing barriers between sections of the city centre and its periphery and encouraging more footfall in neglected areas. A more walkable, and less compartmentalised city centre overall. Most of all, the pandemic showed better than anything the vulnerability of mono-use districts in cities all over the world. A healthy city economy depends on variety that can only come from having a high resident-base along with a good mix of retail.
Reddit Link	https://www.reddit.com/r/glasgow/comments/zclfho/buchanan_galleries_demolition_in_glasgow_could/iyy2dn7/
Created	Mon 5th Dec 2022 1:01am
Status	normal ()

Would caution everyone to understand that the *"could see 2000 parking spaces go"* has been pulled out as a headline expected to garner most clicks and attention.

There's a lot of meat to the bones of this proposal, it's quite far down the line, and it would be worth reading up more on the reasons behind it rather than reacting on impulse to this headline alone. https://buchanangalleries.co.uk/about-re-development-project

First among the reasons this is happening:

* The site is privately owned and much like owners of other shopping centres across Scotland, the UK and indeed the rest of the world, they see the writing on the wall in terms of dwindling return-value on their asset. Internet shopping isn't going anywhere, and the bottom has fallen out from underneath the long-term business plan of relatively monoculture shopping sites like BG. Shopping centres/malls might have made exceedingly good business sense 20-30 years ago when built, and *some* of them (BG is one of the few examples) might still be bumping along okay, but demand and the subsequent rents they can command are only going one direction: down. Owners increasingly see that rent derived from housing (or at least mixed use) is a much surer bet now, and so that's the direction their investments are moving in.

It's good news though, if this and the similar St Enoch Centre redevelopment plans are seen through. There's an insatiable demand for housing, and this means more people living in the city centre. Streets and gridplan reinstated, removing barriers between sections of the city centre and its periphery and encouraging more footfall in neglected areas. A more walkable, and less compartmentalised city centre overall.

Most of all, the pandemic showed better than anything the vulnerability of mono-use districts in cities all over the world. A healthy city economy depends on variety that can only come from having a high resident-base along with a good mix of retail.