A new development at the Canting Basin promises to bring a touch of glamour to the heart of Scotland’s biggest city and transform its waterfront into an international tourist destination.
The world's first man-made floating leisure village is to be
built in Glasgow as part of a £30 million development housing a
marina, shops, restaurants and roof-top concert arena.
Scottish Enterprise has announced that Floating Concepts
Limited, based near Manchester, has been selected as the preferred
developer for the former Canting Basin docks a mile from Glasgow
city-centre on the south side of the River Clyde.
Residents in new studio flats and townhouses will be able to dock
their boats at private moorings and "pool" boats will be offered
for offices to encourage employees to use the river for getting to
and from work and for recreational activities.
Floating Concepts has unveiled artists' impressions of the finished
site after being given the go-ahead by Scottish Enterprise some 18
months after the development first went out to tender.
Floating Concepts, which specialise in property developments on
water, plans to create a new canal with a floating street that will
be home to two and three-storey office buildings, studio flats and
townhouses. There will also be shops, a hotel, restaurants and an
80-berth marina with a further 150 berths for residents and
visitors.
Up to 450 jobs will be created by the attraction, which borders the
Science Centre and Imax cinema on the south side of the River Clyde
and has been designed by Glasgow-based ZM Architecture and
specialist water-based architects Baca Limited of London.
"All great coastal cities have a prime waterfront destination and
now Glasgow has the chance to join those ranks," said David Beard,
Chief Executive of Floating Concepts. "The iconic nature of a
floating village will turn the Canting Basin into a major
attraction quite unlike any other in the world, as well as being a
dynamic centre for local people and businesses."
Allan McQuade, Business Infrastructure Director, Scottish
Enterprise, said: "The floating leisure village proposed by
Floating Concepts Limited for the Clyde's Canting Basin has the
potential to become a vibrant waterfront tourism and leisure
destination at the heart of Glasgow's Pacific Quay. It is an
innovative proposal which makes maximum use of the water and we
look forward to working with Floating Concepts over the next few
years as the project is implemented."
Sources:
Scottish Enterprise press release: Glasgow to build world's first
floating village
The Herald - A touch of Dubai glamour for Clyde