Former public toilets to be turned into windowless holiday let

Tourists in Glasgow will be offered a unique opportunity to stay in old public toilets after a fresh bid to convert a Cathedral Square block was approved.

Planners at Glasgow City Council, which owns the former toilets, have given the go-ahead to a proposal to turn them into a holiday let.

It is the second time permission to provide accommodation on the site has been granted, after an initial proposal was approved in 2020.

The applicant, Iain Williamson, intends to revamp the Victorian toilets, near the city’s Necropolis, to offer “short-term self-catering tourist accommodation”.

His plans state there are some “design refinements” from the earlier bid. They add that the block is an “unusual and distinctive historic structure” and its reuse will “bring a vacant building back into productive use, enhance its setting and contribute positively to Glasgow’s tourism offer”.

Public toilets in Cathedral Square could be turned into a holiday let Linearchitecture

The applicant has a 25-year commercial lease for the building, with options to extend. Guests will access the short-term let via a keycode system.

They will be provided with “clear house rules covering noise, waste, smoking, behaviour and respect for the surrounding area”, the plans add.

Occupancy is set to be restricted to a maximum stay of no more than 14 consecutive nights per booking, and no more than 90 days in total by any individual or group in any calendar year.

The building will remain a “windowless structure”, but the roof has been designed to accommodate “daylight, ventilation and life-safety requirements”. Plans that add this method will avoid “new wall openings that would erode the building’s historic form”.

A two-bedroom unit is proposed, as well as a new pedestrian entrance door. There would be a small external amenity space, bin storage and sheltered bike storage.

Planning permission was granted in 2018 for a café on the site.

The application states: “Due to changes in the applicant’s business model and market conditions, the building is once again proposed for a tourism-specific short-term letting use.

“The use is expressly commercial in nature, will operate under strict occupancy and management controls, does not involve the loss of any residential housing stock, nor is it in close enough proximity to affect the residential amenity of any existing residential units.”

It adds that the applicant is “ fully aware of, and will comply with, the Scottish Government short-term lets Licensing Scheme and all associated local authority requirements”.