131 Minerva Street, Glasgow

Authority: Glasgow City Council

Proposal: 59 New Build Flats

Services: Heritage, Townscape and Visual Impact Assessment

Status: Planning Approved

Iceni Projects’ Built Heritage and Townscape team played a vital part in securing a successful Planning Consent for their clients, on the site of a heavily altered former brass foundry building which had been converted into offices.

The building was not considered to be a heritage asset, having had all its original fixtures and fittings removed internally some time ago. In addition, the building no longer sat within a legible townscape context, with the area having changed substantially over the 20th century. The existing building, which was to make way for a new development of flats, sat within a modern business park development and adjacent to brownfield land that had previously been occupied by car show rooms. The area is currently in the process of piecemeal redevelopment, is adjacent to Exhibition Centre railway station, and in turn close to the Scottish Exhibition Centre. The development site is to the south of the St Vincent Crescent Conservation Area, north of the category A Finnieston Crane, and part of the wider townscape as seen from Kelvingrove Park, and the river Clyde.

Given that the existing building did not contribute to the setting of the identified heritage assets, due to its lack of heritage value, Iceni demonstrated that its demolition would not affect the setting or significance of the area. The proposed development represented a notable change in scale and massing but would be consistent with the varied scale of its surroundings which range from 1 to 14 storeys. The Built Heritage and Townscape team successfully argued that the proposed development would act as a transitional building between the five and six storeys at Minerva Street and the taller buildings south of the Clydeside Expressway. The increased massing of the proposal would frame the view towards the historic Finnieston Crane from the St Vincent Crescent Conservation Area, without detracting from its prominence as a landmark. Despite the lack of a listing, political pressure led Historic Environment Scotland to become involved in the overall process, with Iceni submitting a Certificate of Intention not to List (COINTL). As a result of Iceni Projects Built Heritage and Townscape team’s robust HTVIA and the work of the Planning team, HES confirmed that the building was not suitable for listing.