Summary: Glasgow City Council has approved planning permission for a striking new 36-floor student tower to be called “The Ard,” the second tallest building in the city. This mammoth project will help in the transformation of the old Portcullis House site to develop modern student residence housing along with a range of amenities. Boosting student accommodation availability in the city centre is regarded as vital to invigorate the area.

Breaking news for Glasgow: the city has approved a brand-new, spanking student tower that’s going to be at the center of all attention. Rising to a height of 36 floors, the said new building, dubbed by the name “The Ard,” shall become the second-tallest building across Glasgow. Picture yourself in a building much taller than most of the buildings that surround you!

So, where is this new tower going to be? It will be built on the site of an old office building called Portcullis House. If you’ve seen Portcullis House, you know it’s been standing empty since 2020. It used to be an office for people from HM Revenue and Customs, but now it’s just an empty space waiting for something new. In its place, The Ard will take its spot, with Portcullis House being knocked down in order for this bright and shiny new project to rise.

The Ard will loom a gargantuan 114 meters tall. Which is not too shabby really considering the only building taller than The Ard in Glasgow is the Science Centre which dizzies up to 127 meters into the heavens. With 784 beds, The Ard is going to help solve a big problem: there aren’t enough places for students to live in Glasgow. The building of the new tower will make more homes available for students, with the taking up of other homes, currently being occupied by students, by local families.

What makes The Ard so special? It’s not just about the height. The new tower will have lots of cool features. There’s going to be the usual rooms for games and movies, a studio for yoga and spinning, and even a gym. If you love to cook or do art, you will love the social kitchen and art studio. The building will also have a café at one of the entrances and a special space for a charity called Glasgow Social Enterprise Network (GSEN). On the entrance of Newton Street, there will be a café and charity space.

This project doesn’t mean merely putting up a tall building. The developers, Watkin Jones, also want to make the space around the new tower look nicer. This push will see a nice gap created between The Ard and the nearby Scottish Power building. Guess what? The Ard will boast double storage space for 390 bicycles in the basement. That means students who ride bikes will have a safe place to keep them.

And one of the other wonderful things that will be brought with this new build is the boon that it will offer for public transport. Future students at The Ard will conveniently take the buses and trains, making it fine to travel all over the town. Running the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce is Stuart Patrick, who also says that the student population in Glasgow is booming. WITH the biggest city schools due to become even bigger, the new student tower will help meet the demand for more and more student homes. And having good quality student homes will be vital to keeping young skilled people in Glasgow rather than heading elsewhere, which will benefit the city centre.

So, what is to become of the old Portcullis House? Even though it is being demolished not everything is going to end up in the skip,. The developers say they’ll keep part of the old building’s structure to make sure the new development has a strong base. Portcullis House dates from the 1970s and from the outset was an office that was used until it became redundant. The building was supposed to be knocked down and replaced with homes dating back to 2021, but that was delayed because there was no obvious guidance coming from the city council at the time.

The stamp of new schemes already being given planning approval has excited Watkin Jones. They intend to develop The Ard with high environmental specifications, which means using the latest green technologies to do their bit to save the environment. The improvement will form a crucial part of regenerating the west end of the city center of Glasgow. Hopefully, the new development on this building will help kick some other improvements into life and make this part of the city even more vibrant.

So, in a nutshell, The Ard is more than a new tall building; it is a new lease for a place that has awaited a change. Modern amenities, green technologies, and student housing solutions are what The Ard is about to bring to Glasgow’s future. So be prepared to view a new skyline and avail of all these benefits associated with this exciting new development now!