SWG3 in Glasgow granted permission to build hotel with rooftop bar and restaurant

Arts complex SWG3 can build a hotel with a rooftop bar and restaurant after Glasgow City Council approved the project.

Dubbed a ‘hotel for music lovers’, the 13-storey venue is set to be constructed at the corner of Eastvale Place and Sandyford Street near the SWG3 campus.

The city’s planning committee granted permission for the 142-bedroom hotel at a meeting on Tuesday.

It will include a cafe/bar on the ground floor, a gym with a sauna and steam room, meeting rooms and a function suite.

The top floor bar and restaurant will also have a “winter garden/terrace” – and has been billed as offering “expansive views across the city in all directions”.

Cllr Ken Andrew, SNP, who chaired the planning committee, said: “I think it will become a bit of an icon of that part of the city.”

Andrew Mickel, a director at SWG3, told the committee the arts complex has become “the cultural heartbeat of the city and Scotland”, describing it as “an authentic homegrown crucible for music, arts and cutting edge fashion”.

Bruce Robertson, a hotelier who is working on the project, said: “The important factor for me in the success of a hotel is making sure the community uses that. A well-run hotel that becomes culturally important is where you would see who your friends would be if you lived in that city.”

One objector, who has lived in Yorkhill for over 35 years, said she wasn’t opposed to “the hotel per se” but she had “an issue with late night noise” and “extra traffic”.

She added: “Over the summer period, when SWG3 had their outdoor gigs, none of the residents in the local area could hear their TVs because of the bass. We then have people coming up and down the street late at night.

“I get up at 5am. I’m a carer. I don’t want kept awake to 11, 11.30, 12 at night, seven days a week when I have to get up at that time and go and do my job.”

Mr Mickel said SWG3 had “to be respectful of the local community” during events and would “do better at that” moving forward. Mr Robertson added they were “selling sleep” so it was important to them that noise issues were mitigated.

No car parking is included in the plan. The applicants said they were willing to work with the community and the council to address issues.

Cllr Martha Wardrop, Greens, recorded her dissent with the decision to approve the hotel, as she was “very concerned about the loss of green space and public space”.

A council planner said he believed the proposal represented “an improvement on the current situation”. In a report to the committee, officials added the new space “would be predominantly hard surfaced with some seating, tree planting and a public art installation”.

They added: “It is considered that this is an appropriate design response in this location given the size, scale and character of the hotel proposal.”

Paul Stallan, the architect on the project, said the public realm would include “a lot of greenery” as well as a sculptural piece by artist Jim Lambie.