Plans for 321 student studios in the heart of Glasgow have been given the go-ahead by the city council.
Artisan Real Estate, together with Homes for Students, said the self-contained studio apartments at 292-298 St Vincent Street would cater primarily to the postgraduate and overseas student market.
The plans include demolition of the existing office block, which has lain vacant since 2019, and replacing it with the new student development.
Artisan’s Scottish regional director David Westwater said: “The site is in a superb city centre location, within easy walking or cycling distance to a number of higher and further education establishments. There is a demonstrable need for high-quality purpose-built student accommodation in the city, especially for individual studio apartments. The more longer-term student market we are targeting will bring energy and investment to the city centre and ensure deliverability of a superbly designed development to replace the existing office block, which has remained vacant for four years.”
The development proposals will complement the council-backed Golden Z plan to re-energise the central commercial district. The plan proposes less retail and more restaurant and culture operators, with other suggestions including using empty upper floors of buildings for housing and shared workspaces.
Westwater said: “We have engaged with the local business community, which is suffering with the decline of office workers following the pandemic, and they widely welcomed the prospect of renewed investment and energy that the development will bring to the area. We will actively work with our neighbours to make the development an active and integral part of the local area, providing opportunities for our neighbours to share communal meeting spaces.”
The PBSA scheme is the latest attempt by Artisan to find the best use for the 292-298 St Vincent Street site.
It first secured planning permission in 2020 for a 255-bedroom, four-star hotel. However, due to the impact of the pandemic on the hospitality sector, alternative uses were explored. This resulted in a revised planning application for 250 serviced residential apartments, which was then translated into approval for a co-living residential development in early 2023. That has now been superseded by the student development consent.
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