Credit: Madeleine Baker
Zara Ali
Writer
Zara Ali discusses the new major housing development set to emerge on Partickhill Road.
Plans have been lodged for a major housing development in the heart of the West End. The developer – Westpoint Property (Scotland) Ltd – wants to build luxury apartments on the site of the former Middlefield School on Partickhill Road.
The school buildings have been vacant for some time and have suffered years of decay and vandalism. The plan is to demolish the unlisted buildings to make way for the new development. The developer argues the current state of the school buildings is “detracting from the appearance and character of the overall conservation area”.
The application process has been underway for some months, with local residents having been engaged throughout. Now that the plans have been formally lodged, the next step is to proceed with the consultation of local people and any interested parties.
According to consultants for Westpoint, the plans to build contemporary tenements include provisions for car parking and cycle storage. The building will front Partickhill Road and Hyndland Avenue, in blond sandstone.
The application put to the city’s planning application committee describes the project as “high quality” and states that it will “cater for different needs”. The aim is to build one, two and three bed apartments, accessible by lifts to all floors. The building will have access via front and rear doors.
The statement in the planning application says: “This Planning Statement assesses the proposed development against the relevant development plan policies and concludes that the proposed development is generally compliant with all relevant policies.
“Overall, the proposed development represents a high-quality, modern development which would be energy efficient and is of a suitable density for this high accessibility area.
“The proposed development would see a derelict brownfield site in a high public transport accessibility area brought into use as a high quality flatted development.
“The design and materials respect the historical context of the site.”
The statement concludes: “The proposed development is compliant with national and local planning policy and it is respectfully requested that planning permission and conservation area consent be granted for the proposed development.”
