High Street station to get new entrance after redevelopment plans abandoned

Glasgow’s High Street station is set to get a new entrance façade, after plans for a full redevelopment were dropped due to a lack of funding.

Designs for the entrance will be drawn up if councillors agree to grant £120,000 to Network Rail at a meeting next week.

Initially, there had been hopes for a complete revamp of the station, improving connections to the city’s East End, but it was revealed last year that the scheme was “no longer viable”.

A report by council officials states: “Early aspirations to undertake a full redevelopment of the station are not able to be delivered as a result of funding from Transport Scotland no longer being available.

“A new scope of works including only the entrance and façade is now being taken forward.”

Money to cover Network Rail’s design costs would come from the Glasgow City Region City Deal, a more than £1bn infrastructure programme funded by both the UK and Scottish governments.

In October last year, an update on City Deal projects revealed the High Street scheme wasn’t going ahead as originally proposed. At the time, a council spokeswoman said the available City Deal funding alone couldn’t cover the cost of the project.

Transport Scotland said it had provided £700,000 towards the development of the scheme, and suggested the council could change the scope to make it more affordable.

The update to councillors had stated many funding bodies are “struggling with budgetary and inflationary pressures” and have reviewed available funds.

Since then, council officials and Network Rail have held talks over “a range of improvements” to the station.

A wider City Deal project will see public realm and active travel improvements on High Street under the city’s Avenues programme. These are currently being designed.

It is hoped the station entrance and façade revamp can be completed before the Avenues work.

The report adds the façade project will “seek to significantly improve the appearance of the station and respect the high-quality surrounding architecture”.

It aims to improve the station’s “presence on High Street to both complement existing development and encourage future investment and development of the area”.

Officials state as the station is owned by Network Rail, it is appropriate it oversees the development “in conjunction with council officers”.

A further City Deal grant for construction work is expected in the future.