ReGlasgow

QUAY Wall Funding Deal Paves Way For Return Of Public Riverside Path

27 May, 2020 | News, Active Travel

A MULTI-million pound project to build a new quay wall along a stretch of the Clyde — providing a crucial riverside walkway — looks to set to go ahead.

Glasgow City Council has agreed in principle to accept an offer of a funding contribution towards work at Windmillcroft Quay from the owners of a housing development there.

It is envisaged that the new quay wall will be built out on the riverbed, around 12 metres in front of the existing quay wall line, with a hybrid single and twin steel sheet structure, at an estimated cost of between £15million and £18million. The council would own and adopt the structure, the new land and the public realm.

Detailed design development is due to start in June 2020, with a site start expected in January 2022.

How the new wall and public realm at Windmillcroft Quay are expected to look

In 2014, the existing wall was found to be in need of urgent repair, with the public walkway there having to be closed between Tradeston and Springfield Quay. Emergency demolition and replacement earthworks to temporarily stabilise a section of the wall were carried out in 2016, instructed by Spiers Gumley Property Management on behalf of the co-owners of the housing development.

The co-owners of the homes have shared legal responsibility for common grounds at the development, however uncertainty remains over responsibility for the burden of maintaining the quay wall.

Over the past five years, Glasgow City Council, Speirs Gumley and the co-owners of the 278 homes have frequently engaged to consider options to address the situation.

As a result, in June 2018, Speirs Gumley submitted an application for £11.6million grant funding from the Glasgow City Region City Deal. The funding application was based on the design appraisals and cost estimates at that time. This application was approved on the basis that Glasgow City Council carries out the project and the City Deal funding is supported by a contribution from the property owners.

In March 2020,  a meeting of the occupiers  decided in favour of providing a contribution of £1.39million (£5,000 from each property) toward the Windmillcroft Quay project. A further offer of £750,000 is proposed; which is subject to negotiations between Speirs Gumley Property Management and a third party contributor.

The offer of the funding contribution from the co-owners has now been accepted by the council in principle, as subsequent negotiation may be necessary to address technical, legal and financial issues.

Around £50million of City Deal funding has been allocated to improving quay walls on sections of the river such as Windmillcroft Quay and Custom House Quay to unlock  development potential, enhance connectivity, and improve the quality of places on the waterfront.

Councillor Susan Aitken, leader of Glasgow City Council and chair of the Glasgow City Region Cabinet, said: “Repairing the Windmillcroft Quay wall will not only benefit everyone who lives, works and visits there, but the entire city. We’re going to create new, high-quality public space on the waterfront and better connectivity that will complement the huge amount of development activity taking place on along the Clyde.”

 

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