Our Place Glasgow
Public and stakeholder engagement to help guide the redevelopment of George Square and The Avenues (EIIPR Block C).
In mid-2021, New Practice were appointed by Glasgow City Council to deliver stakeholder and community engagement to support a team led by John McAslan + Partners, guiding the redevelopment of George Square and the surrounding Avenues.
George Square is Glasgow’s most important civic space, a plaza at the heart of the city centre that supports a wide variety of uses, from concerts and markets to demonstrations and celebrations. This redevelopment process represents a vital opportunity to work with local people to understand what Glasgwegians want the Square to be in the future and what uses it should support.
The design ambition for George Square and its Avenues builds upon those set out in the City Centre Strategy and the Avenues Programme. The aim is to improve the public realm to rebalance traffic modes, introduce green and SMART infrastructure, and place “people” firmly at the heart of the project vision and design strategy.
In Stage 1, which ran from February to March 2022, a project specific website - www.ourplaceglasgow.com - and two digital surveys were launched. Participants could respond to two surveys, one focussed specifically on George Square and a second which covered design outcomes for The Avenues generally. The two surveys were broken into key themes to help structure the information shared. These themes were; greenspace, future uses, history and legacy, the environment, and active travel and transport.
The website launch and survey period was supported through a campaign of promoted social media encouraging participation in the surveys and linking to further information on the project. In addition, a dedicated email address and voicemail number were established, allowing the public to send thoughts and queries beyond their participation in the two digital surveys.
These digital surveys and conversations around George Square and the surrounding Avenues generated a wealth of information and data - helping to better understand local residents' perceptions of the project area, and providing significant input to shape the development of design proposals as the project progresses into design stages.
Visualisations developed by John McAslan + Partners
In stage 2, which ran throughout summer 2021, we designed a public and invited stakeholder engagement programme in which participants had the opportunity to provide feedback on ‘sketch proposals’ that had been developed by the design team using the feedback from stage 1 as a guide. As in stage 1, two public surveys were launched, and in addition, there were two opportunities for the public to drop-in and meet members of the design team in-person at our bespoke pop-up exhibition that stood in George Square for the duration of stage 2.
In addition, New Practice facilitated three in-depth ‘Designing for Everyone’ workshops for invited stakeholder groups, each of which focussed on a particular theme - ‘Greenspace and Environmental Sustainability’, ‘Future Uses of George Square and Heritage / Monuments / Public Art’, and ‘Transport and Active Travel’. Local and national stakeholders were invited, with attendees including representatives from the NHS, Architecture and Design Scotland, Sight Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Cycling Scotland, among many others key groups.
New Practice also facilitated two focussed workshops to which local businesses based around George Square and the surrounding Avenues were invited. During the five sessions, the team from John McAslan + Partners presented the sketch proposals, and participants provided feedback on the designs using a SWOT analysis, and through lively discussion.
John McAslan + Partners are developing the sketch proposals in response to the detailed feedback they received throughout the second stage of engagement, and updated proposals will be shared with the public in 2023.
Client: John McAslan + Partner, Glasgow City Council
Location: Glasgow
Completion: 2021-Present
Collaborators: Old School Fabrications
Photography: New Practice