Glasgow | Public Realm | News & Developments

Glasgow City Council
Roads and Lighting Committee
6 September 2005
Report by Director of Land Services
Contact Iain Greenshields on 79020
CITY CENTRE PUBLIC REALM
PROGRESS UPDATE
Purpose of Report
The purpose of this report is to inform Committee of progress with the development of the City Centre
Public Realm.
Recommendations
I recommend, therefore, that Committee:
i) Notes the content of this report.
Ward No(s): 17, 27 Citywide:
Local member(s) advised: no Consulted: no
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INTRODUCTION
1. Land Services staff has worked closely with officers from Development and Regeneration Services
and Scottish Enterprise Glasgow (SEG) to develop, implement and maintain an extensive
programme of high quality public realm projects in the City Centre.
2. The initial Public Realm Programme undertaken in partnership with SEG in the core of the City
Centre has been completed and funding for a further two areas of public realm works in the
Merchant City and Broomielaw/International Financial Services District (IFSD)/Tradeston has been
allocated to Development and Regeneration Services (Fig 1). Progress with planning and
implementation of these programmes during 2004/5 is summarised in this report along with progress
with the development of the maintenance programme.
CITY CENTRE PUBLIC REALM PROGRAMME 1996-2003
3. The main programme of works was completed by December 2001 with a limited programme of
enhancement works continuing into 2003. A series of reports on physical and financial progress
was made to Committee over this period up to completion prior to 25 November 2003.
4. An independent evaluation of the completed public realm programme was also carried out in 2002
and the results of the study were reported to committee on 25 November 2003.
5. The progress report of 25 November 2003 updated Committee on finance and noted that, whilst the
final programme expenditure including enhancement works was estimated as £23.370m, there was
a number of outstanding financial issues to be resolved.
6. All major programme expenditure has now taken place with the exception of very limited sums
relating to ongoing tree maintenance contracts. The gross project expenditure, therefore, can be
confirmed as not exceeding the £23.370m previously reported.
7. Two outstanding funding issues have also been resolved:-
(a) A counter claim against Scottish Water for delay and disruption was successful and resulted
in a payment to the programme of £99,931.95.
(b) Prior to completing the sale of the St Enoch Centre, Deka Immobilen Investment GmbH
(formerly DESPA) honoured their previous agreement to buy a package of land bordering the
St Enoch Centre to the east side of St Enoch Square. Glasgow City Council, First and SPT,
who laid claim to all or part of the land, signed a legal agreement allowing reinvestment of the
capital receipt received from Deka in the public realm programme. A capital receipt of
£650,000 has now been received for the sale of land with a further £2,411.13 in accrued
interest.
8. A breakdown of the current estimated programme funding is as follows:-
ERDF £7,309,733
SPT £120,000
Private Sector Contributions £554,295
Others (incl. Scottish Water) £133,791
Scottish Enterprise Glasgow £7,296,112
Glasgow City Council £7,302,411
Total £22,716,342
In accordance with the partnership agreement, any funding deficit will be made good by the Council
and SEG such that final programme contributions from the 2 partners are equal. Discussion will now
take place with Scottish Enterprise Glasgow regarding their final contribution prior to financial
completion.
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BROOMIELAW INTERNATIONAL FINANCIAL SERVICES DISTRICT - PHASE 1
9. A phased programme of environmental improvements is underway to facilitate the development and
occupation of the International Financial Services District (IFSD) area in Glasgow City Centre. The
first phase works cover the area of the IFSD bounded by Argyle Street, Robertson Street, York
Street, James Watt Street, Oswald Street and Broomielaw.
10. The works consist of public realm improvements to the existing streets and will include new street
lighting, new street furniture, new traffic signal installations, laying of high quality paving to
pedestrian areas and resurfacing/reconstruction of existing carriageways. The works also include
landscape improvements at the site of the existing river bus pontoon on Broomielaw and the
installation of an item of public art (rotating granite sphere) at the corner of Argyle Street and Oswald
Street adjacent to the Radisson Hotel.
11. The project received an ERDF grant award of £3.454m. To meet the conditions of the ERDF grant,
the Council has approved funding of £4.282m for the project which has been allocated to
Development and Regeneration Services (DRS) who are the client service for the project. Land
Services is assisting DRS by providing a project management service.
12. Tenders were issued on 27 February 2004 to 5 contracting organisations who had responded to the
earlier OJEU notice expressing an interest in tendering for the contract. Tenders were evaluated on
the basis of the submitted tender price (70% weighting) and a qualitative assessment of the
tenderers’ technical and management proposals for the contract (30% weighting).
13. Land Engineering achieved the best overall combined price/quality score. The tender submitted by
Land Engineering Ltd was, therefore, considered to provide the best value to the Council in terms of
the contract price and quality criteria. The tender price submitted by Land Engineering was
£5,727,663.50.
14. A report on the tenders submitted was prepared by the Director of Development and Regeneration
Services and the Policy and Resources Committee on 4 May 2004 approved the award of the
contract to Land Engineering (Scotland) Limited.
15. The contract was subsequently awarded on 27 May 2004 and construction works commenced in
July 2004. Expenditure on contract works to the end of financial year was £2.6m and contract works
are progressing well.
16. Work is now substantially completed on the north Broomielaw footway and in James Watt Street
where new natural stone granite setts have been installed in the carriageway. James Watt Street
was officially opened by Councillor Charles Gordon on 19 May 2005. Landscaping work is also
complete at the site of the existing river bus pontoon underneath the Central Station rail bridge on
Broomielaw.
17. Work is currently in progress in York Street, Robertson Street and Argyle Street with works in
Oswald Street scheduled to commence in late September 2005. Completion is due by the end of
February 2006.
18. Future phases of this public realm work will include Broomielaw and Tradeston and further works in
the IFSD.
MERCHANT CITY PUBLIC REALM IMPROVEMENTS
19. The Council approved a capital bid by Development and Regeneration Services (DRS) for public
realm improvements within the City Centre/Merchant City during the period 2005 to 2007. The
current approved programme budget includes capital funding of £2.2m for 2005-2006 and £3.2m for
2006-2007. Land Services is assisting Development and Regeneration Services by providing
project management, design and site supervision services for the improvement works programme.
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20. Scottish Enterprise Glasgow is currently seeking approval from Scottish Enterprise National to
provide additional funding of up to £5M to facilitate further regeneration within the Merchant City. A
decision on approval for this additional funding is awaited. In the meantime, progress with the first
phase of works for financial year 2005/06 is as follows.
21. Works at Central Station to Queen Street Station footway links (including paving at City Halls at
Albion Street) involve the reconstruction of footways between the stations. New granite kerbs and
Caithness stone will be used for the surfacing and existing street furniture will be replaced. At the
City Halls in Albion Street, the footway will be reconstructed in a similar manner with the
incorporation of artistic panels to compliment the adjoining building refurbishment. Tenders were
issued in April 2005 and R J McLeod was subsequently appointed as main contractor. Site works
commenced on 18 July 2005 with completion due by late March 2006.
22. John Street (Cochrane Street to Ingram Street) works involve the reconstruction of the existing
pedestrian priority area. A variety of natural stone materials including granite and porphyry setts,
Caithness stone and whin will be used to create an attractive, high quality, pedestrian friendly
surface cognisant of the cafes and bars which front onto the street. All existing street furniture,
street lighting and trees will be replaced and new amenity lighting columns will be incorporated into
the streetscape. Tenders were issued in June 2005 and J R B Construction was subsequently
appointed as main contractor. Site works will commence in September 2005 with completion due by
late March 2006.
23. Blackfriars Street/Albion Street works involve the reconstruction of the existing pedestrian priority
and trafficked sections of Blackfriars Street and footways in Albion Street. A variety of natural stone
materials including porphyry cubes, Caithness stone and whin will be used to create an attractive,
high quality, pedestrian friendly streetscape. All existing street furniture, street lighting and trees will
be replaced and new amenity lighting columns will be incorporated into the streetscape. Tenders
will be issued in August 2005 and a main contractor will be appointed in November 2005. Site works
will commence in January 2006 with completion due by summer 2006.
24. Anchor Lane works involve the reconstruction of the dull and uninviting lane to west of George
Square. A variety of natural stone materials including granite kerbs, porphyry cubes and Caithness
stone will be used to create an attractive, high quality, pedestrian friendly streetscape. The
transformation will be completed by replacement of existing street furniture and provision of
enhanced street lighting. Tenders will be issued in October 2005 and a main contractor will be
appointed in December 2005. Site works will commence in January 2006 with completion being due
by late spring 2006.
25. The next phase of works under development for 2006/07 includes the design and construction of
public realm enhancement schemes for Queen Street, Bell Street, Miller Street, Virginia Street and
Wilson Street.
MAINTENANCE OF PUBLIC REALM AREAS
26. Maintenance responsibilities for the public realm are shared between Land Services, Environmental
Protection Services and Building Services. Land Services carry out regular inspections of the public
realm areas to identify defects. These defects are then rectified by dedicated by maintenance repair
squads. Trees planted as part of the public realm works are maintained to an established
programme. A management and maintenance manual was prepared as part of the original project
and this will now be reviewed and updated by a core joint Land Services/DRS working group in the
light of experience of maintenance.
27. Environmental Protection Services carry out litter removal within the city centre (to ‘Grade A’
Category which means no litter or refuse remaining by 8.00 am and regular sweeping and litter
picking throughout the day until 8.00 pm ). Street sweeping and refuse removal is carried out
24 hours per day, 7 days per week. Street washing/cleaning is carried out overnight. Chewing gum
removal squads are also now operating within the public realm areas. Building Services inspect and
maintain buildings and structures including public art and statues within the public realm areas.
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SERVICE IMPLICATIONS
Financial: There is a potential funding shortfall within the overall programme of up to £654,000.
At this stage, negotiations are ongoing with SEG with a view to securing a 50%
contribution in line with the existing agreement and efforts continue to secure other
private sector contributions. The final funding position will be reported to Committee in
due course.
Legal: None
Personnel: None
Service Plan: (CAP 02 CR17) 2002/2003 Budget and Service Plan.
(CAP 02 LS14) 2002/03 Budget and Service Plan.
ROBERT BOOTH
DIRECTOR OF LAND SERVICES
9 August 2005

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