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A strikingly modern Glasgow city centre car park, which incorporates and preserves the B-listed facade of an Art Nouveau warehouse by a contemporary of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, opened yesterday (August 3). Dutch-based Q-Park commissioned architects Keppie for the design of the new £4.5m St Enoch facility. Lying close to the River Clyde, beside Glasgow’s main retail centre and adjacent to the city’s St Andrews Roman Catholic Cathedral, the six storey structure in Maxwell Street preserves the derelict 1908 façade by John Gibb-Morton. The St Enoch building is the latest part of Q-Park’s ongoing £16m investment in Glasgow and continues the company's aim of altering perceptions of the car park industry by providing architecturally interesting designs. Keppie’s commission from Q-Park followed on from a planning study undertaken by the practice on behalf of the Archdiocese of Glasgow. Architects and Town Planners worked together to explore the best ways in which the value of the Church’s site could be realised and by careful consideration of the listed building issues were able to achieve planning consent for car park use. Q-Park took up the opportunity to develop the site, and was happy to retain Keppie as architect. Alan Ashbee, Chief Executive of Q-Park UK Ltd, said: "This latest opening shows our continuing substantial commitment to the city. I believe that Glasgow is one of the happening places in the UK and is crying out for investment like this. It deserves the highest standards of design and safety in car parking and we are delighted to supply it. Our philosophy is that car parks don’t have to be ugly buildings, and we put a premium on good design. In this case architect Bill Rodgers, of Keppie, has come up with something very unusual that will contribute aesthetically to the heart of Glasgow.” Q-Park has a reputation for providing a high quality customer focused service and expects all facilities to comply with a strict set of standards. The close collaboration between Keppie and Q-Park allowed this to be achieved successfully without compromise to the overall design. Bill Rodger, Architect with Keppie added: “There
were a lot of design challenges to be addressed and it is satisfying
that the Art Nouveau facade has been able to be incorporated in such
an interesting way. Our role in working for both site owner and developer
has allowed everybody to achieve a positive result.” |
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