Spotlight: Glasgow eyesores that need the owners to take responsibility

Sauchiehall Street in particular has become an eyesore.

In a new Spotlight series, the Glasgow Times looks at who owns the properties and what plans, if any, they have to maintain or develop them.

READ MORE: Glasgow task force reveals £2m city centre rescue plans

From Renfield Street, up the pedestrian precinct and beyond, what was once the city’s premier street is not a pleasant sight.

It is a street showing the signs of neglect by owners over many years.

The Glasgow Times also asked the council how it improves the street’s appearance and it says it wants owners to play their part too.  

Once home to busy department stores and thriving leisure businesses, it is now houses many of the most prominent derelict sites in the city centre.

As the big names moved out, taking some smaller businesses down with them, the window boards and to let signs appeared.

Many have been derelict for several years going back long before Covid and the reasons they are empty has nothing to do with the pandemic.

READ MORE: Owners want to rebuild O2 ABC as music venue for city centre

BHS, at the corner of Sauchiehall Street and Renfield Street and going round into Bath Street, has been empty since in 2016, when the firm collapsed.

The building is now covered in graffiti and has been boarded up for years. From the street it looks like it has been neglected and left to decay.

Owners, Formal Investments, are based in Cheltenham in Gloucestershire.

There are plans lodged with the council for a new development but it is the latest in a line of plans that have so far amounted to nothing.

The latest plan for retail offices and leisure has been submitted to the council.

There were plans in 2016, by owners Formal Developments, for a £75m office development with a new public space at the centre of the property.

It came to nothing.

In June 2021, the council approved plans for an undisclosed big name retailer to move in. It came to nothing and the site remained empty.

Last month, a new plan for retail, offices and leisure was lodged with the council.

The Glasgow Times contacted the owners to ask for an update and timescale on the plans and what the owners were doing to maintain the site in the meantime.

Formal Investments did not respond.

Across the street, the gap site that has been left since the devastating fire at Victoria’s Nightclub in 2018 lies behind wooden hoardings.

This site too had been the subject of plans for a hotel but nothing has come to fruition.

Ownership of the land is divided into two, according to the Land Registry of Scotland.

Numbers 84 to 92 Sauchiehall Street is owned by New Radnor Estates, based in Jersey.

It has not been possible to contact New Radnor Estates for comment.

The plot beside it is owned by Dan-Ton Investments, based in London.

Its sole director is listed as Arthur Matyas.

Similarly, Dan-Ton Investments were not able to be contacted.

It is understood identifying ownership and initiating dialogue can be a problem with some owners notoriously elusive.

Next to it is the former Greaves Sports store, which once occupied the ground floor and the floors above including above Lauders Bar.

There has been an application for an apartment hotel there but no work has started on it.

Further west, the O2 ABC is another landmark building that has been empty for years.

It was closed after the second fire in the Glasgow School of Art in 2018 and the building inside was completely destroyed.

It and adjacent properties, including Jumpin Jacks and Campus, have been boarded up since and has been targeted with graffiti.

It is owned by Academy Music Group, who have an application in to demolish the building, including the art deco façade following the removal of an initial objection by Historic Environment Scotland.

It has yet to be decided on by the council and what will replace it is not yet known.

The Glasgow Times contacted the owners for an update on the timescale of the plan and what is being done with it meantime.

Academy Music Group did not respond.

Marks & Spencer recently closed its Sauchiehall Street store leading to more fears of continual decline of the street.

Marks & Spencer did respond.

A spokesperson said: “We want to make sure our existing site finds a complementary alternative use for the area.

"Our plans are progressing well and we look forward to updating the community soon.”

Glasgow City Council wants to take action to force owners to make improvements.

Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “The council has begun ramping up work to improve the look and feel of the city centre, through deep cleans, graffiti removal and new bins, as well as encouraging more cafe culture.

“Our efforts - and those of businesses - to improve the city centre experience would be hugely enhanced if owners of major vacant properties and sites shared our commitment and addressed the impact of their neglect. 

“These are a blight on our city, and while I fully understand the challenges caused by the pandemic and the major structural changes experienced by cities everywhere, the owners of these sites and properties have a responsibility to improve these eyesores.

“Through the national City Centre Recovery Taskforce, I’ve already begun discussions with ministers about giving local government better and more effective powers to deal with empty sites and I’ll keep urging them to go faster to deliver those.”