Glasgow firm’s masterplan will create ‘thriving, bustling new community’ in city’s East End

Glasgow’s East End is in line for “new jobs and opportunities” as an ambitious £20 million property project comes to fruition.

Spectrum Properties said its “far-sighted” master plan was nearing completion, in a move it hopes will breathe new life into the former industrial area. The company, which operates across Glasgow, Edinburgh and Stirlingshire, is a key property investor and has saved several buildings that are part of Glasgow’s Victorian heritage by re-purposing them for commercial use.

In its latest venture, the firm is investing close to £20m in the wide-ranging development in Dalmarnock, centred on the distinctive new Spectrum House, which should act as a magnet for further economic activity in the area.

The centrepiece of the project, Spectrum House, is a 'radically designed' construction of modular sections with an industrial aesthetic, including a light-filled glass atrium.

The project, which has been years in the planning, is bounded by French Street, Dora Street, Norman Street and the A728 Clyde Gateway road. It includes a total refurbishment of a series of listed buildings in French Street, with new roofs, windows, walls and floors. Work is now completed on this element of the scheme and tenants have been secured for the accommodation.

The centrepiece of the project, Spectrum House, which will also serve as the firm’s new headquarters, is a “radically designed” construction of modular sections with an industrial aesthetic, including a light-filled glass atrium. The property will include a four-level business centre to accommodate flexible working and to be known as Cube HQ. It is due to be completed and occupied by the end of the year.

A business centre, of 30,000 square feet, is 30 per cent into its development and is scheduled for completion by 2026. There will also be a bakery and café, for which the company has planning consent, and is likely to be operational in 2026. Car parking is being provided with 120 spaces.

Bill Roddie, director of Spectrum Properties, said: “The masterplan for the Dalmarnock project envisages not just a series of developments, but the deliberate building of a thriving, bustling new community in the East End with jobs, opportunities and real economic purpose.

“We have been a part of the East End’s resurgence for the last 37 years and we know, understand and respect its huge potential. The activity centred on the new Spectrum House will create a crucible for new businesses and viable enterprises.

“The office market is changing, away from long-term leases to the new environment of hybrid working and we will have dedicated desks, offices and flexible leases to meet the needs of this new generational trend.”

The Spectrum House masterplan frees up the firm’s former HQ in the Strathclyde Business Centre in Carstairs Street, which has full planning consent for conversion to 106 residential units in the building and on the surrounding ground.

The masterplan comes on the heels of another Spectrum project, which saw the A-listed Tollcross House, built in 1849 and known as a jewel of the East End, transformed into 13 apartments in a “detailed and sympathetic refurbishment”. The company also restored the home of shipping magnate and philanthropist Sir William Burrell in an Alexander “Greek” Thomson terrace in Great Western Road in Glasgow, creating four duplex homes.