Sub: Andrew Dobbie hopes to transform the worn facade before the end of July
Author: Lauren McDougall
A public petition has been launched to revamp the Met Tower, also known as the iconic People Make Glasgow building, in the heart of Glasgow, in the lead up to the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
Due to the building’s prominence and proximity to the city centre of Glasgow, Glasgow City Council used the building to display the city’s brand “People Make Glasgow” in 2013, to prepare the city for the 2014 Commonwealth Games. However, as the building has been unoccupied since the opening of the City of Glasgow College “supercampus” in 2015, the advertising placard has become worn and degraded since the games in 2014.
In late December, Creative Entrepreneur and Glasgow resident Andrew Dobbie launched a petition and social media campaign to “Transform the People Make Glasgow building into something Iconic”, which has garnered almost 5,000 signatures.
For Dobbie, “That sign wasn’t just a slogan. It was Glasgow introducing itself to the world. It was us saying: we’re warm, we’re bold, we don’t do things by half, and you’re welcome here.”
“That’s why I started this petition. Not to complain or moan. Not to point fingers. But to show that there is genuine, heartfelt appetite in this city to do something special. If enough of us sign, we can show the council, the building owners, and the amazing team at the Games that this matters. That Glasgow wants this. And we can will it into existence together.”
Speaking to the Glasgow Times, Dobbie said: “This is about building on a powerful legacy and asking what message best represents Glasgow now. This isn’t about undoing what came before. ‘People Make Glasgow’ worked because it was true. Now we have an opportunity to do something really creative, and the talent in Glasgow to make something extraordinary.”
In 2022, Bruntwood SciTech, a digital technology company based in Manchester, bought the building, and announced plans to revamp the Met Tower into an office space while building an accompanying 10-story tower building behind it, estimated to cost around £60 million. However, plans to transform the building fell through, and we decided to resell the building in 2023.
In November 2025, the building was bought by Vita Group in August 2025, with plans to turn the building into co-living flats, similar to a development in Manchester. The group has not directly commented on the initiative to revamp the facade of the tower prior to the 2026 Commonwealth Games.
The Commonwealth Games are set to kick off on 23 July, and end on 2 August. According to the Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2026 website, the estimated cost of the games as of October 2024 was £114 million, with the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) providing £100 million to this sum. No official marketing budget information is available.
You can read more about the petition online at change.org/p/transform-the-people-make-glasgow-building-for-2026-commonwealth-games
Image: https://unsplash.com/s/photos/glasgow
