Major office, residential, hospitality and public realm developments - including Candleriggs Square, the Barclays campus in Tradeston, the Love Loan development at George Street, JPMorgan Chase at Argyle Street and the major new Moda residential complex at the former Strathclyde Police HQ on Pitt Street - have seen investments of almost £1 billion come to Glasgow while also transforming whole sections of the city centre.

And the new City Centre Strategy 2024-30 shows billions of pounds of further new developments in the pipeline over the coming years. As well as new retail and leisure destinations created through the wholesale overhaul of Buchanan Galleries and the St Enoch Centre, major new residential developments are being progressed while the innovation sectors around universities are expected to expand further.

The council is establishing a new approach to managing regeneration activity, with a new development team working to proactively identify solutions for key sites and deliver the action plan in the new City Centre Strategy.

And since 2019, Glasgow city centre has received significant public sector investment (over £200 million) and £120m is already committed to ongoing projects that will span the duration of the new strategy. Plans for a revamped George Square will be delivered over the next two years, with a city centre greening programme planned and the transformation of key streets such as Sauchiehall Street Precinct and Argyle Street underway in 2024 as part of the Avenues project.

Councillor Angus Millar, convener for City Centre Recovery at Glasgow City Council, said the new strategy was already translating into actions.

He said: “Over the decades, Glasgow has shown itself to be a master at reinvention and the latest stage of that reinvention is now well and truly underway. We know that investors have had confidence in Glasgow and this is being borne out with what we’re seeing coming on-stream. In the next few years, Glaswegians can expect to see a lot more activity going on in the city centre. Some of this regeneration work may cause disruption, but this is about securing the city centre’s future as the beating heart of Glasgow for years to come.”

Following public consultation, the City Centre Strategy 2024-30 was considered and approved by a council committee yesterday.

The committee report noted the impact of the pandemic and growth in virtual working, online retail, distance learning, and changes in consumer behaviour in limiting the city centre’s progress but also in bringing forward change. But it also highlighted that in 2022 Glasgow recorded its highest ever levels of foreign investment, with forecasts showing strong expansion demand in several key sectors within the city centre including accommodation and food, with professional, scientific and technical activities also projected to grow.

The report also stated that demand for new office space has bounced back, with employers taking forward new high-end working environments to attract staff back to the workplace post-pandemic.

Work to support the recovery of city centre footfall continues, with the latest weekend footfall figures reaching pre-pandemic levels, and night-time footfall in January 2024 standing at 14% higher than January 2020.

The report to the City Administration Committee stated: “While some sectors continue to face significant economic pressures, many are adapting with developers keen to deliver high quality commercial outcomes and bringing substantial investment to the city. The private sector will be critical to the delivery of the city centre vision over the coming years, not least due to their stake in property and site ownership, and the CCS will continue to promote a collaborative and partnership-focused approach to city centre regeneration.”

The new strategy will be overseen by the City Centre Taskforce, co-chaired by Councillor Millar and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stuart Patrick, and with input from the public and private sectors.

Councillor Millar added: “No-one is under any illusion as to the scale of our challenges, but the pieces of the city centre jigsaw are now falling into place, and people in the city will really start to see that. And the consultation responses show that the public are behind us: from bigger-picture aims such as doubling the city centre population, giving new purpose to the Clyde and delivering on our net zero ambitions through to routine issues of cleanliness. We’re working together to build a city centre for the future while making sure the city centre of now is the best it can be.”

Stuart Patrick, chief executive of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, said: “As part of the City Centre Task Force, it is encouraging to see projects such as the Golden Z review, the avenues project and our recommendations on empty units all taken forward as part of this refreshed strategy. Private investment will be critical to turning around the fortunes of our city centre and we want to attract even more projects like those currently under development such as the Love Loan building, Candleriggs Square and the JP Morgan office development. We look forward to working with the Council and other partners in implementing this strategy.”