{"id":669993,"date":"2026-07-02T15:18:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:18:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669993\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T15:18:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T15:18:15","slug":"odonnellbrown-to-design-meanwhile-use-for-fire-ravaged-glasgow-site","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/669993\/","title":{"rendered":"O&#8217;DonnellBrown to design meanwhile use for fire-ravaged Glasgow site"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Glaswegian practice will work on RIBA Stage 2 concept designs for putting the plot to use for three to four years while longer-term plans for redeveloping the corner are drawn-up, Glasgow City Council announced today (2 July).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/massive-blow-listed-victorian-building-lost-to-glasgow-fire\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The fire<\/a>, last March, which started in a vape shop,\u00a0caused the partial collapse of the 175-year-old B-listed structure at Union Corner designed by James Brown of Brown and Carrick in 1851 for Francis Orr &amp; Sons.<\/p>\n<p>Glasgow City Council has tasked O\u2019DonnellBrown with \u2018providing a deliverable and phased approach to activating the site in the short to medium term\u2019, including commercial and cultural uses, flexible structures and installations.<\/p>\n<p> The council says it \u2018will look to integrate the site\u2019s edge, ground level, gables and air space\u2019 and \u2018respond to the site\u2019s heritage setting, the importance of the site, the requirements of the owners and the intensity of pedestrian activity there\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>In May, Glasgow-based architects and designers<a href=\"https:\/\/www.architectsjournal.co.uk\/news\/glasgow-architects-display-regeneration-concepts-for-fire-ravaged-site\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> presented proposals<\/a> for regenerating the site at a PechaKucha-style presentation event, organised by a group of city planning students from the University of Glasgow, at the university\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gla.ac.uk\/myglasgow\/estates\/timetabling\/roomphotos\/boydorr\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Boyd Orr Building<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The event sought ideas to reimagine the site and included New Practice (part of Civic); Collective Architecture; Finni Porter Chambers, a spatial designer and researcher; and Jenny Le Masurier, graduate interior designer at MLA.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-828632\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/IMG_0931-highlight.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"291\" height=\"322\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Union Corner building on fire in March, credit Vyromedia<\/p>\n<p>Participants presented designs inspired by the site location as an icon of the city centre, Glasgow\u2019s \u2018temperate rainforest climate\u2019, and the hosepipes used in March to fight the fire with water from the Clyde.<\/p>\n<p>Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said: \u2018The final and permanent development of the fire site will take time \u2013 but neither the council nor the owners are prepared to see such a crucial city centre space lie empty while that takes shape.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u2018I\u2019m delighted we have expert, local partners working on that already \u2013 with the expectation that we will start to see the site coming back into use this year.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>O\u2019DonnellBrown director Jennifer O\u2019Donnell said: \u2018Every city has places that matter, and Union Street Corner is one of them.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>\u2018We\u2019re looking forward to working with Glasgow City Council, the site owners and the wider design team, to build on work already undertaken, and develop a shared vision for the site. There is an opportunity to develop an approach that reflects the site\u2019s importance within Glasgow\u2019s city centre.\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p>She continued: \u2018We believe good stewardship means working collaboratively, building trust and consensus, and making decisions in the short to medium term that support the site\u2019s long-term future.\u00a0 We\u2019re excited to help shape the next chapter of this important part of Glasgow.\u2019<\/p>\n<p>Glasgow City Council suggested that meanwhile uses on the corner site could be established later this year, and said it is working with building owners and other stakeholders \u2018to reintroduce activity to the site as soon as possible\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>The authority is also considering proposals to transform the area around Central Station, Glasgow\u2019s main train terminus neighbouring the fire-damaged Union St corner building, in the long-term, it said.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-828230\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Collective-Architects-union-street.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"469\" height=\"469\"  \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Union Corner proposal by Pete Smith, architect, Collective Architecture<\/p>\n<p class=\"inline_image_source\" style=\"font-size:12px; max-width: 479px;\">Source: Pete Smith<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Glaswegian practice will work on RIBA Stage 2 concept designs for putting the plot to use for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669994,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,202096,1120,96,1104,679,47261,163892,224321,56,54,55,52193],"class_list":["post-669993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-collective-architecture","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-fire","tag-glasgow","tag-mla","tag-new-practice","tag-odonnellbrown","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-university-of-glasgow"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669993"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669993\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}