IT’S been a city centrepiece for centuries and has had many makeovers in the past. It even turned red for a while.
Now Glasgow’s George Square is set for its latest facelift.
The council’s final stage of consultation with the public on plans for the historic square’s latest upgrade began earlier this month. It asked what people thought of an initial sketch developed following previous stages of engagement on what was wanted from Glasgow’s main civic space in terms of use and design.
As the consultation came to a close, a pop-up exhibition with the full set of plans was unveiled in the square on Friday.
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The initial sketch and 3D models feature a single large lawn space, a large, flexible and hard open space flanked by continuous seating, as well as rain gardens and large specimen trees which frame the central spaces.
The majority of existing statues were also retained or relocated within the square, with an option also available for suggestions on a new piece of contemporary art or a monument.
The artist’s impressions certainly look splendid. The sun is shining down on a café culture shaded by leafy trees. There’s even a guy playing a grand piano in one image. Good luck with that on a dreich day in the west of Scotland. And there is not a single one-eyed pigeon eating chips or a half-eaten Greggs sausage roll.
This preliminary design also proposed an increase in greenspace. While the current green area in the square accounts for 2680 square metres, the proposed increase would see 5500 square metres of space occupied by greenery.
This seems a rather obvious move for the Dear Green City.
Respondents were also supportive of creating infrastructure to support walking and wheeling in the city centre. This support extended to proposals to close George Street and St Vincent Street along their boundaries with George Square to private vehicles.
The redesign is part of a £115 million project to create a new network of safe, sustainable and attractive routes in the city centre.
This is welcome news, particularly so as it comes in the same week Glasgow was named the third dirtiest city in the world.
The Time Out Index 2022 asked people around the globe about their local cities, from art and culture, to bars and restaurants.
After more than 27,000 people responded to the online survey, Time Out named the dirtiest cities in the world – and it’s not great for Glasgow, finishing behind Rome and New York City, with Stockholm named the cleanest.
On the flip side, the very same Time Out Index ranked Glasgow as the world’s fourth best city to visit in 2022 – behind Edinburgh, Chicago and Medellin. The city was ranked as the world’s friendliest with praise for the good humour and kindness of its people.
Time Out said Glasgow’s “burgeoning dining scene is best characterised by friendly informality” and highlighted cultural venues such as SWG3 and the Barrowland Ballroom.
Just wait till they hear the new grand piano in George Square …
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