PUBLIC REALM + TRANSPORT REGENERATION |
Glasgow 'Avenues' Design | Glasgow City Council
FROM STRATEGY
The Avenues are a key initiative within the Glasgow City Centre Strategy and Action Plan, proposed as catalytic measures to dramatically improve the quality of the City Centre environment. This would be achieved through the rethinking the city’s main streets, putting people at their heart. By redressing the balance between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, and transforming perceptions of the city for citizens, visitors and investors alike, the Avenues programme aims to make fundamental improvements for all who live in, work in and visit Glasgow.
Urban Movement was appointed to undertake the ‘Enabling Infrastructure Integrated Public Realm’ (EIIPR) commission in January 2016. The first stage of work was a detailed city centre mapping exercise, to give us as much information as possible about every street, and enable us to develop a rational programme for their improvement. Armed with this detailed understanding of the city centre, every street was assessed in order to establish where the investment would create the greatest return – socially, environmentally and economically. This process was undertaken closely with City Council officers and other stakeholders, in order to capture the wealth of knowledge retained by them about the city centre and its upcoming developments.
Streets were designated as future Avenues based on an assessment against a series of agreed performance indicators: Improving Connectivity; Enhancing City Image; Strengthening City Economy; Supporting Redevelopment; and Enhancing/Protecting the Environment. Streets that benefited the city most across the board were programmed as Core Avenues - to be designed in detail and delivered over the next ten years.
TO PROOF OF CONCEPT
To showcase the power of street design and the affect it can have on people’s quality of life, health and happiness Urban Movement were selected to design the first Avenue as a showcase for the City. UM led the £6million re-design of Glasgow’s famous Sauchiehall Street, through the concept and detailed design stages with the proposals transforming a former 4 lane highway into a humanised public space.
Sauchiehall Street Avenue now features a fully segregated cycling facility; continuous flush footway and cycle crossings at side roads; large semi-mature deciduous trees; seats; permeable paving; improved access to buses and taxis; and a 20mph speed limit with an even lower design speed. The project has totally transformed the western half of Sauchiehall Street from a hostile, traffic dominated environment, to a place for people to enjoy with a more attractive, safer and inclusive streetscape where everyone can sit, walk and cycle in comfort.
TO CITY-WIDE REGENERATION
Buoyed by the success of the Pilot Scheme Glasgow City Council had a mandate to roll out the improvements to the rest of the city. The international call for designers was won by Civic Engineers (Lead) and Urban Movement (Lead Designer) amongst other partners. An archetypal “car city” Glasgow’s streets had remained unchanged for decades and this damage was clear for all to see - with increased dependence on vehicles, increasing transport poverty, decreasing health and quality of life, and decreasing city centre living and economic prosperity.
Our first task was to (re)establish a vision and typology for each street - based on the high level vision - to reverse this pattern, to increase connectivity for people walking and cycling as well as inviting people to spend time by incorporating green infrastructure, trees, and SuDS into contested city centre streets.
With the vision established we undertook designs (RIBA Stages 0-4) for the next 10 Avenues stretching across the entire city centre, all the time working with city officials, politicians, and stakeholders to develop ideas and deliver on the City’s ambitious vision. As part of the process we worked closely with Council design colleagues and organised multiple ‘learning and sharing’ workshops, with international speakers presenting about what can be done in cities. As well as this we organised international and national study trips, so that we and our council colleagues can meet their counterparts in other cities, to learn about their journey, and share ideas.
This process proved invaluable, and formed the foundation for a collaborative design team going forward to deliver a step-change in the way that people move around and enjoy Glasgow.
The Avenues are a key initiative within the Glasgow City Centre Strategy and Action Plan, proposed as catalytic measures to dramatically improve the quality of the City Centre environment. This would be achieved through the rethinking the city’s main streets, putting people at their heart. By redressing the balance between vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, and transforming perceptions of the city for citizens, visitors and investors alike, the Avenues programme aims to make fundamental improvements for all who live in, work in and visit Glasgow.
Urban Movement was appointed to undertake the ‘Enabling Infrastructure Integrated Public Realm’ (EIIPR) commission in January 2016. The first stage of work was a detailed city centre mapping exercise, to give us as much information as possible about every street, and enable us to develop a rational programme for their improvement. Armed with this detailed understanding of the city centre, every street was assessed in order to establish where the investment would create the greatest return – socially, environmentally and economically. This process was undertaken closely with City Council officers and other stakeholders, in order to capture the wealth of knowledge retained by them about the city centre and its upcoming developments.
Streets were designated as future Avenues based on an assessment against a series of agreed performance indicators: Improving Connectivity; Enhancing City Image; Strengthening City Economy; Supporting Redevelopment; and Enhancing/Protecting the Environment. Streets that benefited the city most across the board were programmed as Core Avenues - to be designed in detail and delivered over the next ten years.
TO PROOF OF CONCEPT
To showcase the power of street design and the affect it can have on people’s quality of life, health and happiness Urban Movement were selected to design the first Avenue as a showcase for the City. UM led the £6million re-design of Glasgow’s famous Sauchiehall Street, through the concept and detailed design stages with the proposals transforming a former 4 lane highway into a humanised public space.
Sauchiehall Street Avenue now features a fully segregated cycling facility; continuous flush footway and cycle crossings at side roads; large semi-mature deciduous trees; seats; permeable paving; improved access to buses and taxis; and a 20mph speed limit with an even lower design speed. The project has totally transformed the western half of Sauchiehall Street from a hostile, traffic dominated environment, to a place for people to enjoy with a more attractive, safer and inclusive streetscape where everyone can sit, walk and cycle in comfort.
TO CITY-WIDE REGENERATION
Buoyed by the success of the Pilot Scheme Glasgow City Council had a mandate to roll out the improvements to the rest of the city. The international call for designers was won by Civic Engineers (Lead) and Urban Movement (Lead Designer) amongst other partners. An archetypal “car city” Glasgow’s streets had remained unchanged for decades and this damage was clear for all to see - with increased dependence on vehicles, increasing transport poverty, decreasing health and quality of life, and decreasing city centre living and economic prosperity.
Our first task was to (re)establish a vision and typology for each street - based on the high level vision - to reverse this pattern, to increase connectivity for people walking and cycling as well as inviting people to spend time by incorporating green infrastructure, trees, and SuDS into contested city centre streets.
With the vision established we undertook designs (RIBA Stages 0-4) for the next 10 Avenues stretching across the entire city centre, all the time working with city officials, politicians, and stakeholders to develop ideas and deliver on the City’s ambitious vision. As part of the process we worked closely with Council design colleagues and organised multiple ‘learning and sharing’ workshops, with international speakers presenting about what can be done in cities. As well as this we organised international and national study trips, so that we and our council colleagues can meet their counterparts in other cities, to learn about their journey, and share ideas.
This process proved invaluable, and formed the foundation for a collaborative design team going forward to deliver a step-change in the way that people move around and enjoy Glasgow.
