Glasgow shopping arcade firms win planning battle with council

Firms in a high-end Glasgow shopping arcade have won their appeal after the city council claimed planned improvements were “inappropriate”.

Co-proprietors at the A-listed Argyll Arcade — home to over 30 jewellers and diamond merchants — took their case to the Scottish Government when a bid to replace stone paving at the precinct’s entrances was rejected.

Planners at Glasgow City Council said the works would include “inappropriate materials” which “fail to preserve or enhance the special architectural and historic interest” of the arcade.

But a reporter, appointed by the government, has now granted listed building consent for the project, as she ruled it would “preserve the listed building’s special interest”.

Jane Smith, the reporter, found the Argyle Street entrance currently “presents a patchwork of at least four different materials” while the entrance at Buchanan Street is in “a similarly inconsistent condition”.

She noted the “internal terrazzo flooring, which makes up the vast majority of the internal flooring within the arcade, would remain intact and unaltered”.

Ms Smith concluded the plan would “preserve, and to some extent enhance, the listed building, its setting, and the character and appearance of the conservation area”.

One of Europe’s oldest covered shopping malls, Argyll Arcade, was built in 1827. The applicants had argued they wanted to invest in the centre by enhancing “the general appeal of its entranceways”.

The appeal stated “high-quality and hard-wearing” Porphyry paving would be installed, which mixes four colours to give “a varied but reddish overall appearance”.

It added the co-proprietors respect the “heritage and listed status of their building and have no intention to harm its character by making insensitive or inappropriate alterations to its physical fabric”.

The statement claimed the application was refused due to the colour, but it is not the role of the council to “specify a colour palette given they are not commissioning the proposed work”.

Businesses believe the current surfacing “does not exhibit any qualities which make a positive contribution to the listed status of the building”, with “numerous instances of damage and patch repairs”.

But Glasgow City Council had said a “violet mix” made up of “greys, violet hues, and yellowish-brown tones, laid in a random pattern with dark grey grout joints” was proposed.

Its response to the appeal added the mix would introduce a “strong and incongruous visual contrast in both colour and texture when set against the historically muted tones and refined finishes that define the entrances and interior of the arcade”.

Officials said the “standard of existing finishes does not justify introducing new materials that are inappropriate to the historic context”, adding replacement works “must still preserve and enhance the listed building’s special interest”.

Ms Smith decided the “current entrance surfacing presents an untidy contrast with the high-quality public realm of the surrounding shopping streets and the retained terrazzo flooring within the arcade”.

She said: “The Buchanan Street paving appears broadly similar in colour and texture to the proposed material. Although Argyle Street is laid predominantly in grey slabs, I consider applying the same material at both arcade entrances would be appropriate to ensure a common design theme for the arcade.”