IN Brief:
- Peel Waters and Urban Pulse have submitted plans for 89 private homes on Plot 5 at Yorkhill Quay.
- HAUS Collective has designed a six to seven storey building with commercial space, balconies, rooftop terraces and public art.
- Peel Waters is already delivering roads, drainage and utility infrastructure intended to unlock development across the neighbourhood.
Peel Waters and Urban Pulse have submitted plans for 89 homes at Yorkhill Quay in Glasgow, adding a second residential scheme to a waterfront neighbourhood where major infrastructure works are already under way.
The Plot 5 proposal comprises a six to seven storey mixed use building with one, two and three bedroom apartments and commercial space at ground floor level. HAUS Collective has designed the scheme for a site between the Clydeside Distillery and Riverside Museum.
Private balconies and rooftop terraces are included across the development, while the ground floor is intended to provide active frontage beside the public realm. A large public artwork is proposed on the northern elevation facing one of the principal approaches towards the site.
The building has four prominent elevations because each side addresses a different condition. The eastern side faces the historic distillery, the western elevation looks towards the emerging Yorkhill Quay neighbourhood, the River Clyde lies to the south and the northern side faces towards the wider city.
Wind and driven rain place greater demands on the waterfront façade, while balconies and terraces introduce additional junctions through the external envelope. Drainage, waterproofing and thermal continuity therefore have to be resolved around projecting structures as well as across the main wall surfaces.
The design includes a green roof, renewable energy technology and flood resilience measures. The roof build up must support planting, growing medium and retained water without compromising the waterproof layer beneath it, while outlets still need enough capacity to manage intense rainfall once the roof reaches saturation.
Flood resilience starts with levels and drainage across the wider plot. Entrances, occupied space, electrical equipment and external routes have to be positioned with the riverside setting in mind, while site drainage must connect into infrastructure capable of controlling runoff without simply transferring water towards neighbouring plots.
Peel Waters has already invested £3.75 million in infrastructure at Yorkhill Quay. New drainage networks, roads, footpaths, service routes and outfalls are being installed before individual development parcels are completed, giving later buildings defined connection points rather than requiring each project to construct its own isolated systems.
Drainage work has included pipework, chambers and connections around a new roundabout, together with outfalls through the existing retaining wall. Foul drainage is also being installed across the site, while duct routes and other services are advancing towards the quayside.
Positioning manholes and service routes for future plots reduces the amount of excavation needed once permanent roads and public realm are finished. Individual developers can connect into common infrastructure without repeatedly opening newly completed streets. Those connection points also define how each plot reaches shared services.
The 89 home proposal sits beside a separate 526 home co living development planned at Yorkhill Quay. The two schemes use different residential models, with Plot 5 providing conventional apartments rather than a larger managed development based around smaller private units and extensive shared amenities.
Using different housing types within the same neighbourhood changes the pattern of occupation without requiring entirely separate transport or utility networks. Residents of both schemes will depend on the same roads, drainage, public spaces and waterfront connections even though the buildings are financed, operated and occupied differently.
Yorkhill Quay forms part of the wider Glasgow Waters programme, which covers more than 100 acres of former dockland. The masterplan combines housing, commercial uses, leisure facilities and public space along a section of the Clyde that historically supported industrial and maritime activity.
Existing visitor attractions create another interface for construction. The Riverside Museum and Clydeside Distillery already bring pedestrians and service vehicles into the area, so site logistics for new housing have to work around established public destinations rather than a closed regeneration site.
Ground floor commercial space is intended to add activity along the new public realm. Its services, access, refuse handling and ventilation must be separated appropriately from the apartments above, while fire and acoustic requirements have to prevent commercial uses from compromising residential conditions.
The application now moves through Glasgow’s planning process while infrastructure work continues across Yorkhill Quay. If approved, Plot 5 would add 89 conventional homes to a district where larger residential development is already planned, using roads, drainage and utility systems that Peel Waters is putting in place ahead of the individual buildings.
