PLANS have been drawn up for a major makeover of a prominent Glasgow City Centre office complex.
Proposals for the former Britoil premises at 301 St Vincent Street aim to make the premises capable of rivalling new-build accommodation.
The building is owned and occupied by banking giant Santander and opened in 1986 as the northern headquarters of Britoil.
Three of the seven floors have been sub-let in recent years, but this agreement has come to an end in the past 12 months, with Santander remaining as the sole-occupier.
Planning documents state: “Occupancy numbers have fallen in recent years with the adoption of more agile working habits and current utilisation no longer aligns with the building’s annual operational expenditure.
“Santander have appointed Osborne + Co to undertake the full scale refurbishment of 301 St Vincent Street, following a detailed strategic analysis of the building’s operational overheads and commercial potential within the city of Glasgow.”
After the refurbishment, the building will have 244,000 sq ft of refurbished, Grade-A office space configured for flexible tenancy configuration and 50,000 sq ft of building amenity including state-of-the-art meeting, event, co-working, health and fitness and dining facilities.
The current 40,000 sq ft of landscaped external amenity space, in the form of terraces and courtyards, will be enhanced.
Better facilities for cyclists will be provided, with 250 internal spaces supported by 25 showers, changing and personal storage alongside 16 secure external guest cycle bays.
A design document included with the planning application states: “The redevelopment of 301 St Vincent Street recognises the opportunity to redefine an existing landmark building and to breathe new life into a key location to the western side of Glasgow’s city centre.
“The vision for the redevelopment is to establish a best-in-class office space, aligned to the emerging values and expectations of prospective tenants and capable of rivalling a new-build equivalent within Glasgow’s vibrant commercial marketplace.
“The proposed scale of the intervention is driven by commercial viability and markers of success, in seeking to maximise long-term lettable value and offer measurable returns on capital investment.
“The nature of the intervention will be underpinned by Environmental, Social and Governance factors (ESG) and driven by sustainable initiatives that seek to create an exemplar energy efficient retrofit building.”
