List_of_tallest_buildings_and_structures_in_Glasgow

List of tallest buildings and structures in Glasgow

List of tallest buildings and structures in Glasgow

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This is a list of tallest buildings in Glasgow which are at least 40m (131ft) in height and above in the largest city in Scotland. The current tallest structure, at 127 metres (417 ft), is the Glasgow Tower within the Glasgow Science Centre. They include buildings ranging from 1960s tower blocks, to new office developments such as 1 Atlantic Square, St Andrew House, the Argyle Building and the Livingstone Tower. The tallest building ever to have stood in Glasgow was the 91 m (299 ft) tall Tait Tower in Bellahouston, built for the Empire Exhibition of 1938, but pulled down the following year.

The Glasgow Tower, completed in 2001, at 127 m (417 ft) tall
St Andrew House, completed in 1964 and 71 m (233 ft) tall
Cineworld Glasgow, the tallest cinema complex in the world at 62 m (203 ft) tall

Faced with crippling housing shortages and overcrowding in the immediate post-war period, the city undertook the building of multi-storey housing in tower blocks in the 1960s and early 1970s on a grand scale, which led to Glasgow becoming the first truly high-rise city in Britain. However, many of these schemes were poorly planned and cheaply constructed, which led to many of the blocks becoming unsanitary magnets for crime and deprivation.[1]

It would not be until 1988 that high-rises were built in the city once again, with the construction of the 17-storey Forum Hotel (latterly the Moat House International Hotel, and now the Crowne Plaza Hotel) next to the SECC. The 20-storey Hilton Hotel in Anderston followed in 1992. From the early 1990s, Glasgow City Council and its successor, the Glasgow Housing Association, have run a programme of demolishing the worst of the residential tower blocks, including Basil Spence's Gorbals blocks in 1993.[2]

Since the late 1990s, property developers have been planning new upmarket residential and office high-rises along the River Clyde, and in the city's financial district, which would far surpass these in height. Several proposed skyscrapers, such as Elphinstone Place which would have become the cities and Scotland's tallest, were cancelled due to financial reasons.

Glasgow skyline

Glasgow City Centre skyline

The term "tallest building in Glasgow" is itself ambiguous. Currently, two structures in the city have made a claim for the title depending on which measurement is used:

  • The Glasgow Tower as part of the Glasgow Science Centre on Prince's Dock on the South Bank of the River Clyde, holds the overall title as the tallest free-standing structure in Glasgow, and the whole of Scotland at a height of 127 m (417 ft), however this measurement includes the structure's spire. It holds a Guinness World Record for being the tallest tower in the world in which the whole structure is capable of rotating 360 degrees.[3]
  • Since the demolition in 2015 of both the Red Road Flats and the Bluevale/Whitevale twin towers, the two western tower blocks of the 26-storey Balgrayhill high-rise estate in Springburn are the tallest buildings within the Glasgow city boundary. [4]

Tallest completed buildings skyscrapers and structures

Tallest buildings

More information Rank, Name ...

Other notable tall structures

Buildings with a Wikipedia article and over 50 metres in height.

  1. including rotating blades with 45 m (148 ft) length
  2. base 'hub' unit only.

Tallest under construction, approved, and proposed

Approved

More information Name, Height metres / ft ...

Proposed

More information Building Name, Height ...

Unbuilt

More information Name, Height ...

Demolished

More information Name, Image ...

See also


References

  1. "Disappearing Glasgow: documenting the demolition of a city's troubled past". The Guardian. 22 April 2015. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  2. McLean, David (16 April 2022). "The notoriously dire Gorbals flats that locals dubbed 'The Dampies'". Glasgow Live. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  3. Williams, Craig (9 June 2023). "Glasgow Tower: 'White elephant' reopens after four-year hiatus". The Herald. Retrieved 3 August 2023.
  4. "Science Centre Tower". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  5. David McLean (4 May 2017). "Glasgow's top 15 tallest buildings". The Scotsman. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  6. "Buildings in Glasgow: Springburn". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  7. "Buildings in Glasgow: Wyndford". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  8. "Buildings in Glasgow: Townhead". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  9. "Glasgow City Chambers". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  10. "St. Andrew's House". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  11. "Buildings in Glasgow: Page 2". Emporis. Archived from the original on 17 May 2016. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  12. "Anniesland Court". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  13. "Glasgow UGC Multiplex". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  14. "Cadogan Square". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  15. "Glasgow South Adult Hospital". Emporis. Archived from the original on 27 August 2019.
  16. "Crowne Plaza Hotel". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  17. Vivienne Nicoll (23 May 2013). "£5m city turbine will be visible around world". Evening Times. Retrieved 24 January 2019.
  18. "Glasgow Cathedral". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  19. "Renfield St. Stephen's Church". Emporis. Archived from the original on 6 September 2019.
  20. "Highland Cathedral". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  21. "St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  22. "Finnieston Crane". Clyde Waterfront. Archived from the original on 26 April 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2019.
  23. "Plans submitted for Glasgow student housing at former Portcullis House site". 7 December 2023 via www.scottishhousingnews.com/.
  24. "Custom House Quay". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  25. "Dixon Street Development". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  26. "Elphinstone Place". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  27. "Elmbank Tower". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  28. Robert Bancroft; Francis Bancroft (1885). Tall Chimney Construction (PDF). Lewes: Farncombe and Co. p. 33. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  29. Lynn Pearson (2016). Victorian and Edwardian British Industrial Architecture. The Crowood Press. p. 31. ISBN 9781785001901. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  30. "Forth & Clyde Canal, Townsend's chimney, Glasgow". Archive Images. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  31. When Glasgow had the Tallest Chimney(s) in the World, A Hauf Stop, 20 July 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022
  32. "St. Rollox Chemical Works in Glasgow". BBC Sport. Alamy. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  33. When Glasgow had the Tallest Chimney(s) in the World, A Hauf Stop, 20 July 2021. Retrieved 10 January 2022
  34. "Pinkston Power Station". The Glasgow Story. Retrieved 28 February 2019.
  35. Landmark vanishes in just six seconds, Glasgow Herald, 20 September 1976
  36. "Buildings in Glasgow: Gallowgate". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  37. "Buildings in Glasgow: Red Road". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.
  38. "Clydesdale Tower". Emporis. Archived from the original on 4 December 2019.
  39. "Buildings in Glasgow: Royston". Emporis. Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 27 February 2019.

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