SCOTLAND Gas Networks (SGN) have been given permission to develop offices, a workshop, depot and training facility near Robroyston.

The complex will be at Nova Business Park on vacant ground beside Wallace Well Farm pub/restaurant, next to Robroyston Road, Glasgow.

SGN operates the regulated gas transportation and metering business for the gas distribution network in Scotland.

Documents lodged with the planning application to Glasgow City Council state: “The proposed plot at Nova Business Park has been identified as being the most suitable location for siting a combined SGN facility which would locate a number of functions on a single site and enable SGN to replace existing outdated facilities located in leased premises at various locations around Glasgow and Edinburgh. ”

Functions that will be based at Nova Business Park are:

— A training centre providing a full range of practical and classroom-based training for staff. It will replace a leased facility at Inchcolm near Edinburgh.

— Corporate offices providing a mix of permanent workstations and ‘agile’ working spaces for various corporate and administration functions. This will replace leased office space at Kilbirnie Street.

— Depot office providing a mix of permanent workstations and ‘agile’ working spaces for Glasgow-based depots, replacing leased space at Kilbirnie Street and Provan.

— Depot stores providing a secure storage facility for Glasgow-based depots, replacing a leased facility at Provan.

— Workshop providing a mix of specialist testing, repair and maintenance functions for equipment, replacing a leased facility at Provan.

— Instrument store and testing areas providing a full range of testing and calibration functions for equipment, replacing a leased facility at Provan.

Application documents continue: “The proposed SGN plot on Nova Business Park has remained undeveloped since 1998 and the site is currently covered in scrub with areas of standing surface water. There are no structures on the site and there is no historical evidence of any previous development on any part of the plot.”