Row continues over future of O2 ABC building after objections to student accommodation plan

The five-hour long hearing on Tuesday was the latest step in a more than five year long process that has seen sides clash over how a 350 bed purpose-built student accommodation could affect the iconic Mackintosh Building in Glasgow.

It comes after plans were approved in June by Glasgow City Council, however objections from Historic Environment Scotland and other parties coupled with pressure on Scottish Government ministers from Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney saw the case brought before the government reporter Stuart West.

Evidence heard from both developers defended the plans, which have proven controversial as objectors claim they will block views of the Mackintosh building.

The plans were first submitted to Glasgow City Council in 2019, and saw substantial objections from both the public and heritage bodies. As many as 130 were lodged to the council’s planning portal.

Those objections, and the concerns raised by Glasgow School of Art in the month following the decision to approve the development, has seen claims the art school is “standing in the way of progress”, James Patterson, director of property investment firm Urban Pulse.

The hearing also heard from a number of objecting parties including Mr Sweeney and Reverend Jane Sutherland, vice chair of Garnethill Community Council.

Objecting to the plans at the hearing Mr Sweeney called each of the views of the building “of an international significance to Glasgow’s cityscape”

Mr Sweeney said: “I think we have to regard the Glasgow School of Art in that pantheon of internationally significant buildings and we shouldn't be so commercially driven about maximising scale in this context.”

Mr Sweeney added that further “demunition” of the city landscape was “unacceptable”.

He added: “Actually the current condition of the building and our aspirations nationally to restore it are even more essential to preservation of what currently exists.”

Rev Sutherland,a former Glasgow School of Art student, voiced her concerns that the removal or impediment of views from the school’s hen run would go against the intended design principles of the building.

Rev. Sutherland said: “As Macintosh intended, the entirety of the building is a teaching tool in itself.”

However, the plans were defended by architects HAUS who said that the building’s surroundings have “changed holistically” since it was completed.

Murray Henderson of HAUS Architects said: “Our proposal responds to this reality by

redistributing our mass by stepping back where our views are more sensitive and avoiding direct competition with the building's principal elevation.”

Mr Henderson did however accept that the views may be impacted.

He added: “We've tried to ensure our viewpoints don't try to significantly impact without whilst accepting that they will impact views.”

Concluding the hearing, Mr West said that a visit to the site would be undertaken today (21 January) along with an equal number of applicant and objectors. A final decision is set to be made before 4 May.