Rather than relying on private student accommodation providers, the university, as the client, has taken a ‘hands-on approach’ to drawing up the plans and delivering the pair of projects at the heart of its ongoing Western Campus Transformation.

According to the 2025 Doolan Prize-winning practice, the project has been designed in response to the university’s ‘specific residential requirements, prioritising the student experience to create a genuinely inclusive environment that supports the diverse and evolving needs of its students’.

Together, the schemes at Church Street and Lilybank Gardens will deliver 768 homes across more than 25,000m² of new buildings.

The architect, which has been working on a residential strategy with the university for the past two years, says both projects share approaches to ‘materiality, detailing and design’.

Stallan-Brand director Nick Ecob said: ‘The university has adopted a hands-on approach, enabling the delivery of new residences that put the student experience at their core and differentiate themselves from other student residential developments in the city.

‘Both projects have been carefully conceived to engage with the distinctive tenemental character of Glasgow’s West End. This includes the use of traditionally laid sandstone, precast concrete and considered detailing to ensure the buildings age gracefully over time and make a positive contribution to their surrounding townscape.’

The project team also includes Atkins Realis as project manager and LUC as public realm and landscape designer.

Both projects are expected to start on site this spring and complete in late 2028.

Stallan-Brand’s proposed student housing for the University of Glasgow in Church Street – elevation

Architect’s view

Church Street
Located at the corner of Church Street and Dumbarton Road, the Church Street development will deliver 477 bedrooms and frame a key gateway to the university’s Western Campus. In addition to a mix of ground-floor spaces and amenities, the building will incorporate ground-floor commercial space, activating key street frontages. A series of external courtyards, roof terraces and internal amenity spaces will create a highly inclusive environment centred on the student experience.

The project also integrates the redevelopment of Anderson College, a Grade B-listed former teaching building fronting Dumbarton Road.

Lilybank Gardens
Lilybank Gardens will deliver 291 bedrooms, as well as transforming the existing gardens into an enhanced public space for use by the wider community. The development will reinstate the historic tenemental building forms that once occupied the site, repairing the historic fabric and creating a positive addition to the wider conservation area.

The development will also deliver improved pedestrian connections between the university campus and the nearby high street, while new commercial uses will contribute to the local economy and enhance the distinctive character and vibrancy of the adjacent Ashton Lane.

Lilybank Gardens – elevation

Project data

Location Glasgow
Local authority Glasgow City Council
Type of project Purpose-built student residential (PBSA)
Client University of Glasgow
Architect Stallan-Brand Architecture & Design
Landscape architect LUC
Planning consultant North Planning
Structural engineer Blyth and Blyth
M&E consultant Wallace Whittle
Quantity surveyor Atkins Realis
Principal designer Atkins Realis
Lighting consultant  Wallace Whittle
Main contractor TBC
Funding TBC
Tender date TBC
Start on site Q2 2026
Completion Q3 2028
Contract duration (approximate) 24 months
Gross internal floor area (approximate) 25,000m²
Form of contract and/or procurement TBC
Annual CO2 emissions TBC
Total cost TBC
Planning application reference 24/02285/MSC (Church Street),25/01266/FUL (Lilybank Gardens)
Visuals Stallan-Brand Architecture & Design and Zero Nine Zero Five

 

Stallan-Brand’s proposed student housing for the University of Glasgow in Church Street