Glasgow approves North Laurieston regeneration masterplan

Glasgow City Council has approved the North Laurieston regeneration masterplan, establishing an agreed framework for future development across vacant land, existing streets and historic buildings on the south side of the Clyde.

The final document follows public consultation during summer 2026 and has been developed by New Gorbals Housing Association and the council with Elder & Cannon Architects. Rather than defining one construction project, it sets the spatial rules within which individual sites can progress through design, planning and delivery.

North Laurieston occupies land immediately south of the river and close to Glasgow city centre, but gaps in the street pattern, vacant plots and underused buildings interrupt connections between the Clyde, Tradeston, Laurieston and the wider Gorbals.

Previous development has transformed substantial parts of Laurieston and New Gorbals, leaving the North Laurieston area between neighbourhoods that have already undergone major regeneration. The masterplan addresses how the remaining sites can connect those areas instead of being developed as isolated plots.

Glasgow’s South Central Local Development Framework had already identified the district as a masterplanning opportunity. The approved plan translates those broader policies into proposed building lines, movement routes, public spaces and development principles that can be applied when individual landowners bring sites forward.

That coordination matters where construction is likely to take place over several years and through different developers. A road, pedestrian connection or utility corridor cannot function efficiently if adjoining schemes reserve incompatible alignments or leave essential links to whichever plot happens to be built last.

The framework therefore places emphasis on rebuilding the street network between North Laurieston and neighbouring districts. New development is intended to strengthen routes towards the city centre and Clyde while filling gaps where demolition or historic industrial use has left discontinuous urban blocks.

Retained buildings introduce another layer of constraint. North Laurieston contains heritage assets whose structural condition and future use have to be considered alongside new construction, limiting the extent to which the district can be treated as a cleared redevelopment site.

Clyde Design Partnership has assessed building conditions as part of the masterplanning work, while Stantec prepared a movement strategy and Ryden produced market analysis. Kevin Murray Associates led community engagement.

Those workstreams address practical questions that can otherwise appear only after a preferred layout has been drawn. Existing buildings may prove expensive to retain, proposed uses may not support the cost of adaptation, or traffic and servicing requirements may conflict with the street arrangement needed to create a coherent neighbourhood.

Market testing is particularly important where a masterplan relies on a mixture of refurbishment and new development. A protected building can be architecturally valuable yet difficult to finance if conversion costs are high and the achievable use does not support them.

The movement strategy has a similar influence on construction potential. Streets have to accommodate servicing and emergency access as well as pedestrians and cyclists, while connections towards the city centre must work around existing infrastructure rather than on a blank urban grid.

The Clyde forms the northern edge of the wider regeneration area, and improved links towards the river are part of the framework. Development on waterfront-adjacent land has to balance routes towards the water with connections back into established communities so new blocks do not create another physical barrier between the Gorbals and the river.

Public space is therefore tied directly to the street network. Squares, routes and landscape areas have to meet finished floor levels, drainage and servicing requirements across neighbouring plots, giving apparently architectural decisions consequences for civil engineering and development phasing.

Councillor Ruairi Kelly, depute leader and convener for housing, development, built heritage and land use at Glasgow City Council, has described the area as distinctive because of its proximity to the city centre and Clyde, its heritage buildings and its links with surrounding regeneration.

Approval of the masterplan does not grant planning permission for individual developments. Landowners and developers must still prepare detailed proposals, secure consent and demonstrate how infrastructure, access and retained buildings will be treated on their particular sites.

The framework should, however, reduce the risk that each application starts from a different assumption about streets or connections. A developer can design against an agreed district structure while the council can test whether individual proposals contribute to the routes and public spaces needed across the wider area.

Delivery will depend on ownership and investment as much as planning. Vacant land held by different parties may move forward at different speeds, while heritage refurbishment can require funding arrangements distinct from those used for new housing or commercial construction.

The next evidence of progress will therefore come through site-specific applications rather than another masterplan exercise. As individual plots move towards construction, the test will be whether they follow the agreed street, heritage and movement framework closely enough for North Laurieston to develop as one connected district despite being delivered in separate phases.