WELLINGTON STREET HOTEL DEVELOPMENT

GLASGOW

Building footprint: 8,385 sqft

Consented GIA: 100,575 sqft

Required hotel rooms: 200 keys

Consented hotel rooms: 210 keys

This development is set within the business district of Glasgow City Centre and provides 100,575 sqft GIA of new C1 Hotel Use across the site. The site had been vacant for 20 years and sits within a city block containing five historic buildings, two of which are listed. Pre-application advice had previously been sought for a tall building on the site which was rejected by Glasgow City Council, suggesting that only a building of similar scale and mass to those adjacent would be appropriate.

Studio Kyson were brought onto the project by the client whose purchase of the site was conditional on obtaining planning permission. The client had an agreement in principle with a leading European hotel chain that was dependant on providing min. 200 rooms.

Despite the initial advice from the council regarding mass and scale, we developed a design narrative that considered the historic development of the existing buildings on the block, acknowledging that each had been built as large as possible within the structural and financial capabilities of the time and as such, our proposal was following the same pattern. Following two Pre-apps, a Design Review Panel and Public Exhibition, we were able to provide the council with clear justification for them to credibly shift their view to a building of increased mass and scale.

Concurrently, in order to achieve the required room count we succeeded in providing clear justification for maximum development across the site footprint, maximising the client’s return on the site. The final Pre-application response welcomed our hotel design which exceeded the client’s required room count by 10 additional rooms.

Throughout the design and planning process a clear understanding of the projects’s commercial viability was retained, ensuring that what was approved was financially feasible within the client’s budget. Where a complex facade detail was pivotal to the design justification, this detail was carefully considered to ensure it could be adapted to apply across the entirety of the building, minimising fabrication costs.