Plans to revamp 'Four Corners' facade in Glasgow city centre approved by councillors

Plans to revamp the façade of a prominent building at Glasgow’s ‘Four Corners’ have been approved, as the owners look for a hotel operator to take over the upper floors.

Glasgow City Council has given the go ahead to a proposal to make changes to the front of a building on the corner of Argyle Street and Jamaica Street which, until recently, was home to Pizza Hut.

The application, from Clydebuilt II Limited Partnership, a joint venture between property firm Ediston and Strathclyde Pension Fund, states the alterations will help “attract a high-quality flagship restaurant tenant”.

An opportunity to use the upper floors as a hotel or hostel was recently marketed by CDLH leisure and hospitality surveyors.

Plans to refresh the external appearance of the block at 203 Argyle Street state the “existing curtain wall façade, spanning levels one to three” will be replaced.

“Ground floor cladding, shopfront glazing, and internal fit-outs are all subject to the incoming tenant and will be submitted as a separate application,” they add.

the building at Glasgow's 'Four Corners' is set to undergo a makeover — the building at Glasgow’s ‘Four Corners’ is set to undergo a makeover LDRS

“The proposed design aims to enhance the appearance of this prominent corner site… and future-proof a desirable commercial plot.”

The site was occupied by Arnott Simpson department store until it closed in 2002. It was then used by Pizza Hut for more than two decades.

The facade is “largely unchanged” since the 1963 Arnott Simpson building was completed, according to the application, and “now appears dated and poor-quality in contrast to the recently reclad blocks either side”.

“With this project, we have the opportunity to refresh the facade with a contemporary, high performance curtain wall facade, significantly improving the appearance of this prominent corner site,” the plans add.

A report by council planners stated the proposal is “the first comprehensive refurbishment of this façade since its construction” and will “provide much-needed investment in restoring visual amenity to a very prominent city centre location”.

The advert by CDLH states the building “presents an opportunity to create a hotel, aparthotel or hostel within the heart of Glasgow”. It states plans have been prepared for conversion to a hostel, with 139 rooms and 537 bed space, or a 155-170 key hotel.

As part of the pre-application consultation, the council has confirmed it has “no objections in principle to a change of use to a hotel”, the advert adds. “A full planning application will be submitted immediately upon agreement of terms and layout with an operator.”

The building has been offered to market on the basis of a long-term lease agreement, but a sale would also be considered.