As a well-travelled chap, I have recently returned from visits to London and Middlesbrough. Not locations that are commonly bandied about in the same sentence, unless they’re abridged by the words “is much better than”. However, I do believe the planners and architects of Glasgow, my beloved home city, could learn a thing or two from both places. Yes, even Middlesbrough.
London is a very big place, so it stands to reason that its landmarks are far more landmark-y than might be expected in Glasgow. From the 63rd floor of the Shard, you can admire buildings as diverse as Westminster, the Tower of London, the Gherkin and the Walkie Talkie. (Incidentally, did you know that the French for walkie-talkie is talkie-walkie? Made me laugh for ages, that did, and I don’t even know why.) Anyway, I am not suggesting that Glasgow should become home to phallic skyscrapers or 11th-century prisons. What I am suggesting is that Glasgow should borrow some of the architectural ideas seen elsewhere in this country, because there are critical errors needing to be corrected in our city’s fabric.
Consider Harley Street. Forget about the presence of the London Leech Therapy Clinic, or psychologists who charge £395 per hour to nod sagely while listening to your first-world woes, and instead look up beyond those buffed brass door plaques. These elegant four-storey terraces sport substantial front doors, simple rooflines and railings a few feet from each elevated ground floor window. It’s a brilliant streetscape that would work equally well in contemporary materials, and I am absolutely convinced that if buildings of this calibre were created in Glasgow, they would walk out of the sales suite. It worked for the Georgians, and they didn’t even have Cat5E cabling or rainfall showers.
Which brings me onto the rather less evocative setting of Middlesbrough. I have a real soft spot for this place, even though it’s a bit rough and industrial, because I appreciate the fact that Middlesbrough’s town planners didn’t try to run before they could walk. The skyline is low-rise, because there was no need to economise on land by building upwards. The grid-pattern streetscape actually works better than it does in Glasgow, because (if you ignore the dockside districts), there is far less wasteland or brownfield than you might expect. There is greater harmony in the choice of building materials, and it feels like the place is actually finished, regardless of whether or not you like the end product.
Now contrast this with Glasgow, where entire swathes of the east end lie empty and overgrown, often because land has been zoned exclusively for housing associations with no interest in actually building anything. Travel along Gallowgate, Carntyne Road, Duke Street or even London Road, and there are regular expanses of scrubland where tenements or factories once stood – gaping holes in Glasgow’s welcoming smile. It’s an absolute sin, and it’s an issue throughout the city – Balmore Road in the north, Pollokshaws Road in the south, and even Beith Street in the west end, which borders Byres Road, for God’s sake. We have more land than we know what to do with, so why are we sanctioning housebuilding on the edge of the city, in places like Whitlawburn and Newton? Where’s the sense in building 18-storey residential towers at Glasgow Harbour when the land immediately west of it is undeveloped? Why aren’t builders being incentivised to construct quality dwellings on these desolate spots, when there’s a housing shortage and particularly high demand for new homes?
If I won the Euro Millions lottery, I would set up a property company and start planning elegant terraces of high-ceilinged tenements for as many of these gap sites as I could. Combine traditional aesthetics with modern specifications, engineer in good soundproofing and secure off-street parking, and residents would flock into areas that are currently little more than urban wastelands. It’s a guaranteed money-spinner and it would fill in all the missing pieces of Glasgow’s urban jigsaw, making this the city it should be rather than the (incomplete) city it currently is. Now all I need to do to realise this Utopian vision is actually win the Euro Millions. Can anyone lend me £2 for a ticket? I promise I’ll pay you back in full within 48 hours of striking the jackpot…
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