Glasgow plan for Finnieston gym site changed with more flats added

Over 390 flats are planned on Minerva Way in Finnieston, currently home to a Nuffield Health gym.
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


Plans to build homes on the site of a Finnieston gym have been changed again — with more flats now proposed.

Real estate firm Redevco has updated its application to Glasgow City Council after talks with planners and is now hoping to create 391 flats on Minerva Way.

Permission was granted in 2021 to replace the Nuffield Health gym with 195 homes for private sale across three blocks, but the firm then asked to build 362 build-to-rent flats over two blocks last year.

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That application has been updated after planning officials noted “a number of concerns”.

Following talks, the design team has “reduced the height of the northern block by two storeys along the main north block and by one storey on the north eastern block”.

The changes have led to a “reconfiguration of the apartments proposed”, with the new plan for 391 homes, an increase of 29.

An addendum to the initial planning statement was submitted this month, which reveals extra communal space will also be provided in the southern block and a “multi-purpose room” created on the north-east corner.

The room would provide “communal amenity space for residents of the development and can also provide bookable space for community groups”.

Planners had said a number of objections to the development had “cited the loss of the Nuffield gym as detrimental in terms of reduction in availability of community facilities in the area”.

Over 390 flats are planned on Minerva Way in Finnieston, currently home to a Nuffield Health gym.
Over 390 flats are planned on Minerva Way in Finnieston, currently home to a Nuffield Health gym. Images by Cooper Cromar architects for the developers, Redevco, and submitted to Glasgow City Council.

Ground floor apartments, with private gardens, have been introduced on the north block to create “a more residential feel on Minerva Way” and the building materials have been “amended to a more muted reflection of precedents in Finnieston”.

The revised plans also include an “enhanced” entrance on Minerva Way and relocating growing areas to “the eastern side of the site, replacing an area previously intended for car parking”.

A mix of studio, one, two and three-bed flats are proposed, which the developers say will “create a distinctive and unique environment”.

The application states: “The development represents an opportunity to contribute towards the supply of much needed housing within a highly accessible, sustainable urban location.

“The approach to design, scale and mass is appropriate to its setting and will not result in an unacceptable impact in terms of the quality and character of nearby conservation areas or the setting of nearby listed buildings.

“The approach to provision of public realm and open space will contribute to a significant improvement in the quality of local public spaces and visual amenity.”

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