Custom House Quay and Carlton Place Masterplan
An attractive new waterfront and river park
Location
Scotland
Client
Glasgow City Council
Partner
Hawkins\Brown, Harrison + Stevens
Sector
Urban Infrastructure
Theme
Urban Regeneration, Community, Retrofit, Nature
Services Provided
Alongside architects Hawkins\Brown, we are designing a major project that will see an attractive waterfront area created by extending the River Clyde’s north bank outside the Grade A-listed Custom House with enhanced green space on the opposite south bank at Carlton Place.
The project focuses on enhancing connectivity, public space, and vibrancy along the waterfront. The urban masterplan is hinged around a new structural quay wall built into the river, in front of the existing wall. Renewal of the existing open space into an accessible urban park and enhanced connectivity at the river edge; including complement of public realm, green space, and an opportunity for low scale development to support the sites' attraction. The key engineering challenge is to consolidate and realign 460m of quay walls.
Our engineering team are working on the civil design and managing the marine engineering and hydrology engineering support. This role has involved management and supervising the extensive landslide and marine site investigations.
A unique opportunity to transform the perception of the River Clyde which runs through the city centre from a barrier into an open space that connects the communities to the south with those to the north, mending links between east and west: a place to meet our waterfront, a place to socialise and to enjoy a restorative sense of openness and connection to nature, in the heart of a city with an international status.
Meet Our Waterfront
Our team led inclusive community engagement for the masterplan, aiming to reconnect the River Clyde with its surrounding communities. Through surveys, site walks, creative workshops, public events, and a youth engagement programme they gathered diverse perspectives to inform the design of a new river park.
We worked with local social enterprises and artists to deliver a programme of street art (led by a local graffiti artist) and urban movement workshops, including skateboarding and rollerblading for young girls. The programme for young people further delivered for the project by engaging the city in wider conversations about the value of street art for the site, something already happening extensively across the masterplan area prior to projects.
City-wide drainage impact
Through the Metropolitan Glasgow Strategy Drainage Partnership (MGSDP), Glasgow is proactively working in partnership with key stakeholders to deliver a programme of drainage schemes targeting areas of the city where rainfall adversely impacts communities. These schemes look to reduce flood risks and impacts, improve water quality, bring green space improvements through blue-green interventions, and increase drainage capacity. Increasing drainage capacity allows land to be released for new homes and businesses, which supports continued economic development and regeneration across the city region. Within the Custom House Quay development, we have the opportunity to install the required surface water outfalls through the new quay wall and into the River Clyde.
Heritage
There are several existing features and structures on both sides of the river addressing different cultural themes. Some of these will be refurbished or relocated to celebrate and strengthen the layered narratives for each space and the wider area, contributing to a strong sense of place. Some heritage elements are still physically manifested in the public realm, while some no longer have any presence and it is proposed to recognise these in the new designs for the public realm. Heritage elements at different scales, from granite setts to bridges and the river itself, have been catalogued and have been addressed in the design development during Stage 2.
Key team
Isla Jackson
she / her
Director
Marc Cairns
he / him
Managing Director | New Practice
James Travers
he / him
Regional Director
