Glasgow cordon to remain in place until summer after devastating fire

The fire devastated the Union Corner building, which was later demolished. | John Devlin/The Scotsman

A cordon on a main thoroughfare in Scotland’s biggest city is to remain in place until this summer following a devastating fire.

The street closure near Glasgow Central Station in the wake of March’s major blaze is set to be kept in place until early July as work continues to stabilise a nearby building.

Glasgow City Council said the cordon on Union Street and Gordon Street would remain for safety reasons until work on stabilising a wall adjoining the Central Station Hotel was complete.

The huge fire broke out in a vape shop on Union Street on 8 March, devastating the historic Union Corner building and leaving dozens of businesses seeking new premises.

The fire devastated the Union Corner building, which was later demolished. Picture: John Devlin | John Devlin/The Scotsman

Although neighbouring Glasgow Central Station survived unscathed, the disruption wrought by the fire continues to be felt, with several firms bemoaning an ongoing loss of trade due to the cordon.

Earlier this month, the council opened applications to a multimillion pound fund designed to support affected businesses. The initiative, which uses funding from the Scottish government’s £10 million commitment to support the recovery from the fire, allows eligible firms to seek financial assistance to help business recover, stabilise operations and resume trading as quickly as possible.

Read more: Fire-ravaged Union Corner building in Glasgow to be demolished

While the Union Corner building has since been demolished, the local authority said work was underway to stabilise the gable wall adjoining Central Station Hotel that was exposed by the collapse and demolition of the nearby building.

In a statement, the council explained: “With most of the rubble now cleared from the site, it is anticipated that stabilisation works will last until early July.

Firefighters tackle the blaze which engulfed buildings beside Glasgow Central Station. Picture: John Devlin | John Devlin / The Scotsman

“Until this work is complete, the gable wall remains in a dangerous condition with the structure still at risk of further collapse. This means the current safety cordon on Union Street and Gordon Street must remain in place to protect the safety of the public and those working on the site.”

Read more: Glasgow fire - Why historic places matter emotionally

Progress with stabilisation work will be subject to ongoing review. The council said that if work progresses well, it will be assessing whether it can move more quickly to relax the safety cordon to allow footways around the site to reopen before all work is completed, which would provide access to some of the buildings currently within the cordon.

However, it is anticipated that access to affected buildings that are part of Central Station or Central Hotel will not be possible until all stabilisation works have been successfully completed.

The council added that it remains in contact with businesses and keyholders affected by the safety cordon to keep them advised of developments with work to make safe the dangerous structures on Union Street and Gordon Street.

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The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service operation to put out the blaze and assess the catastrophic damage involved more than 200 firefighters and 18 appliances after the alarm was raised at 3.46pm on 8 March. They battled for more than 12 hours to stop the flames engulfing the iconic Central Station

Glasgow is set to see a significant surge in visitors this summer thanks to the Commonwealth Games. The multisports event will begin on 23 July, with hundreds of thousands of tourists expected.