September 5 2014

A pre-application consultation has opened into plans to create 500 homes, a 120 bed hotel, 500 student rooms and retail on land bounded by Hutcheson Street, Trongate, Candleriggs and Wilson Street in Glasgow’s Merchant City This has seen Candleriggs Ltd, a 50/50 joint venture between Mace and Mercer Real Estate, appoint Richard Murphy Architects to repair a missing chunk of the city.Candleriggs Quarter centres on a central square measuring 50 by 35m, equivalent to half an international size football pitch, which will be lined on all four sides by cafes and bars, boutique retail and a hotel. Each corner of the square will give access to either a destination or a major route.In a statement Candleriggs Ltd wrote: “The Merchant City has a tradition of terminated vistas and the new square will create a fitting termination to Brunswick Street within our site. The square will also sit on a new diagonal axis which links the Merchant Square through a sequence of public spaces to the Trongate and Argyle Street beyond. The position of a new anchor store on the corner of Trongate and Candleriggs will help draw activity along Trongate and down Candleriggs – knitting the site into the city.“Smaller courts lead into the square on either side on the diagonal axis. On connecting routes these will be active with cafes and small retail uses opening out onto these more intimate spaces which are similar in scale to the nearby Virginia Court.”On-site parking will be limited to the provision of a small underground car park off Brunswick Street for use by private residents with public realm enhancements and private communal courtyard gardens also provided.The developers added: “To re-establish the building line and urban scale in relation to the surrounding area we propose that a datum level of 7 stories over retail is established around the perimeter of the site. The roof of this datum will be animated with roof gardens and communal facilities over which a series of taller elements will rise giving views across Glasgow. To the inside of the site a lower more intimate scale of approximately 4 stories over retail will wrap around a new central square.”A formal planning application will be submitted to council officials in December.