Regeneration Award Finds 'Neglected' Glasgow Areas

The entries for the Glasgow City Heritage Trust's (GCHT) Architectural Heritage Conservation & Regeneration Prize 2013 have identified innovative ways to bring life to under-used sites in Glasgow and establish new connection routes within the city.

The two prizes were awarded to students at the University of Strathclyde and the Glasgow School of Art.

This year, the GCHT said it was impressed at the high levels of creativity demonstrated by the 4th year students who looked at modern ways to develop the City and remain true to its vibrant past.

The Trust is a charity, supported by Glasgow City Council and Historic Scotland, which champions Glasgow's unique built environment.

The Architectural Heritage Conservation & Regeneration Prize is awarded to Glasgow students for end-of-year-projects which demonstrate conservation and regeneration within the city, to promote continuing best practice and creativity in these areas.


The Glasgow School of Art winning project "Densify Woodlands" by Andy Casey, Chloe Fawcett, Anna Barbieri and Sniedze Riekstina explores the regeneration of tenement courtyards with a renewed focus on the once popular communal backcourt facilities.

Illustrated by a Woodlands Road prototype, it reveals how under-used spaces within Glasgow's perimeter blocks could be filled with additional housing, retail and working units creating community facilities such as libraries, canteens and caretaker services, while the scheme's proposed new amenities encourage sustainability through urban gardening, and mobility between units.

For the University of Strathclyde, the winning entry by Peter Harford-Cross, "Weather, Water and Place", focuses on the lower River Kelvin from where it leaves Kelvingrove Park and joins the Clyde. The area, which was heavily used for industry from the 17th century, currently offers no public access to the riverbank. However, the project re-imagines the banks as an area of rich activity to reinterpret the historic industrial uses of the site. The final link of the Kelvin walkway is repaired allowing access to the river down to the Clyde, and linking the Riverside Museum to the heart of the West End.

Mr Harford-Cross also won Scotland's 2013 SUST Award from A&DS and also RIAS Silver Medal Highly Commended for his design.

(JP)