Bold new masterplan for Glasgow

Detailed designs are being drawn up for a major new development on the banks of the Clyde in Glasgow. Masterplanning firm Draw is developing designs for roads, infrastructure, new public parks and car parking to ensure the various sites connect and are comfortable neighbours.

The £350m Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) regeneration project includes a new national arena, a super casino, a hotel and a 100,000 sq m urban village, masterplanned by draw for Elphinstone, which recently secured outline planning permission.

Draw's blueprint for the urban village aims to integrate the brownfield site physically, economically and in land use terms with the wider community and improve access by public transport along the river corridor to and from the city centre.

Draw's new commission will focus particularly on the boundaries between the village and the rest of the SECC site - and how these connect with the existing Glasgow Science Centre and new BBC HQ - to ensure they represent a cohesive whole, rather than a series of disparate developments. They'll also look at the movement of pedestrians and cars around the waterfront area.

Alongside their work on transportation and infrastructure issues, draw is now developing a detailed design code for the sustainable urban village, which all subsequent developers of the site will follow.

A high density development that learns from Glasgow's grid iron plan, the sustainable village also benefits from draw's international experience and, according to Mark Bingham, the company's founder, it will be an exemplar in waterfront regeneration.

Explaining the thinking behind the masterplan and the ideas they plan to explore as part of the new commission, Bingham said: "Our strategy for this site is based on a deep understanding of Glasgow as a place and the seamless integration of various transport modes and pedestrian routes ensure the site is well connected in multiple ways. An obvious challenge is to ensure the SECC, the urban village; the BBC and the Science Centre are comfortable neighbours."

The SECC site will be linked via bridge infrastructure to the existing city fabric bringing Kelvin Grove Park a 10-minute walk away and David Chipperfield's BBC headquarters just a short walk across the river. The design is also integrated with Fastlink, Glasgow's proposed dedicated public transport link between the SECC and the city centre.

Work is expected to begin on the sustainable urban village next year and be complete by 2012.