Glasgow: Trongate student flats development given green light as demolition planned

A rundown building on Trongate can be demolished to make way for a student accommodation development.

Glasgow City Council has approved plans to create almost 100 studios for students at 137 to 151 Trongate, where three properties currently stand.

Permission has been granted for a façade retention scheme at the B-listed building from 137 to 143 Trongate — which is set to be extended upwards — while 151 Trongate, also B-listed, will be retained and adapted.

A smaller building at 145 to 149 Trongate can be knocked down under the plan. The whole site is currently for sale and is being billed as a “prime” purpose-built student accommodation location in Glasgow city centre.

At ground level, where there are currently shops, including Bo Peep’s Clothing and Savers, the plan includes “the main entrance to the student reception, a student hub and a commercial opportunity”. The upper floors are empty.

Student flats planned for city's Trongate — Student flats planned for city’s Trongate LDRS

Applications for planning permission, listed building and conservation area consent were submitted on behalf of Bristol-based property development company Deeley Freed in 2024. There have previously been three successful applications to develop the site, with the most recent, in 2015, for 69 serviced apartments, but none progressed.

Initially, the 2024 application had requested permission to create 101 residential units for students. It claimed the plans “sensitively combine retention, re-use and strategic demolition of the existing buildings to unlock the potential of the site”.

After talks with council planners, the application was amended, reducing the number of studios to 98 across nine-storeys. Plans stated the buildings are “generally in poor condition and require a substantial repair, refurbishment and improvement scheme to put them back in good order”.

“A substantial repair is not an economically viable option because the cost of the works would far exceed the value of the repaired property,” they added. “Furthermore, the damp conditions in building one (137-143) have the potential for an environment suitable for a rot outbreak, the condition of the ground floor slab is poor as is the whole of the concrete structure within building two (145-149).”

The site does not include the vacant TJ Hughes building, but the application suggested it could “be the catalyst for the development of this large site”.

Last month, fresh consent was granted to developers planning to knock down buildings, including a former home to the Royal Bank of Scotland, at the corner of Trongate and Hutcheson Street. That project could see 173 student flats created in a block which would rise to 11 storeys.