For the second year running Austin-Smith:Lord and MVRDV have been announced winners of the Scottish Design Award in the Masterplanning category.

The (Y)our St Enoch, (Y)our Central and (Y)our Blythswood District Regeneration Frameworks (DRFs), led by Austin-Smith:Lord in collaboration with leading international architects and urbanists MVRDV, was announced the winner of the 2020 Award in an online ceremony. Our congratulations go to everyone involved.

The Frameworks were prepared for Glasgow City Council as part of the (Y)our City Centre project in collaboration with thousands of contributors through public participation and engagement with stakeholders. They outline a vision for four of the nine districts identified in the City Centre Strategy. These evidence-based DRFs outline a vision, priorities, projects and policies supported by a detailed and practical action plan to transform each of these Districts of Glasgow over the next ten years and beyond.

The DRFs encourage the repopulation of the central Glasgow to create compact, mixed-use, walkable ‘20 minute neighbouroods’. The DRFs envisage the transformation of the Clyde as part of a River Park visitor destination to create a gathering place for Glaswegians connecting communities along and across the River. This would be part of greening the city centre to enhance the quality of the environment and adapt streets and spaces to climate change. The DRFs also proposes reducing severance caused by the M8 motorway by improving walking, wheeling and cycling routes, and integrated public transport, to and through the city centre. The DRFs promote retrofitting and reuse of vacant or under-occupied buildings, with a focus on restoring and maintaining Glasgow’s immense built heritage and reactivating the city’s great streets and spaces.

These three latest DRFs followed on from the Broomielaw DRF, also prepared by the Austin-Smith:Lord / MVRDV team, that was the first of these DRFs to be approved earlier in 2019 and was recognised with a Scottish Design Award last year. Austin-Smith:Lord have subsequently been appointed by Glasgow City Council to prepare the next four District Regeneration Frameworks for Cowcaddens, Townhead, the Learning Quarter and the Merchant City. These are due to completion in 2022.

Winy Maas, Co-Founder of MVRDV said, “This award helps to develop the initiative for a much more vivid, open, collaborative and experimental city. We need this especially in these days of sanitary measurements where a green, optimism and energy are needed. And where energetic cities guide Europe into a collaborative future.”

Graham Ross, Executive Director of Austin-Smith:Lord said, “We’re delighted that all four (Y)our City Centre District Regeneration Frameworks we’ve completed to date have been recognised with Scottish Design Awards. More importantly we’re heartened that the ambition and ideas captured in the DRFs, and developed in collaboration with city centre communities, are helping influence future regeneration activity and improve quality of life in these important areas of central Glasgow. As the city seeks to develop distinctive local solutions to the urgent global issues of our age it is apparent that the DRFs provide a resilient framework and action plan which will assist in anticipating climate change adaptation, enabling post-Covid renewal and enhancing quality of life for all.”   

The full DRF team included:

Glasgow City Council: Client
Austin-Smith:Lord: Local Designer, Lead Consultant,
MVRDV: Lead Designer, Urban Strategy
Space Syntax: Connectivity, Spatial Economics
Ryden: Property Market Consultants
Douglas Wheeler Associates: Socio-economic Regeneration Consultants
Urban Tide: Smart City Consultants
WAVEParticle: Community Animation, Engagement
Gerry Grams: Strategic City Design Adviser
Arup: Engineering Advice
Gardiner & Theobald: Cost Consultants