List of tallest buildings and structures in Glasgow
This List of tallest buildings in Glasgow includes built and planned high-rise buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom.
Faced with crippling housing shortages and overcrowding in the immediate post-war period, the city undertook the building of multi-storey housing in tower blocks in the 1960s and early 1970s on a grand scale, which led to Glasgow becoming the first truly high-rise city in Britain. However, many of these "schemes", as they are known, were poorly planned, or badly designed and cheaply constructed, which led to many of the blocks becoming insanitary magnets for crime and deprivation.[citation needed]
It would not be until 1988 that high rises were built in the city once again, with the construction of the 17-storey Forum Hotel (latterly the Moat House International Hotel, and now the Crowne Plaza Hotel) next to the SECC. The 20-storey Hilton Hotel in Anderston followed in 1992. From the early 1990s, Glasgow City Council and its successor, the Glasgow Housing Association, have run a programme of demolishing the worst of the residential tower blocks, including Basil Spence's Gorbals blocks in 1993.
The current tallest buildings in Glasgow are the Bluevale and Whitevale Towers, in the East End of the city, both at 90.80 metres. The tallest building ever to have stood in Glasgow was the 91.44m Tait Tower in Bellahouston, built for the Empire Exhibition of 1938, but pulled down the following year.
Since the late 1990s, property developers have been planning new upmarket residential and office high-rises along the River Clyde, and in the city's financial district, which will far surpass these in height.
Contents
Glasgow skyline
The term "tallest building in Glasgow" is itself ambiguous. At present three structures in the city can make a claim for the title depending on which measurement is used:
- The Glasgow Tower as part of the Glasgow Science Centre on Prince's Dock on the South Bank of the River Clyde, holds the overall title as the tallest free-standing structure in Glasgow, and the whole of Scotland at a height of 127 metres (417 ft), however this measurement includes the structure's spire, the observation deck is at a height of 105 metres, and the structure does not have floors continuously from the ground and therefore it is not considered a building by the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH).
- The twin public housing tower blocks in Camlachie – the Bluevale and Whitevale Towers at 109 Bluevale Street and 51 Whitevale Street are the tallest buildings in the city overall, with a ground-to-roof height of 90.8 metres (267 feet), but have a highest occupied floor level of 28 storeys.
- The two eastern tower blocks of the 26-storey Balgrayhill high-rise estate in Springburn have a claim since they are built on the highest land of all tower blocks within the Glasgow city boundary, therefore the top floor of these buildings are the highest man made point above sea level at which it is possible to stand.
With the Whitevale/Bluevale estate scheduled to be demolished by the year 2017, this effectively means the western Balgrayhill towers will theoretically become Glasgow's tallest building – this based on the assumption that various proposed schemes such as the Savoy Towers or the Jumeirah Hotel developments (which range between 26–32 storeys) in the city centre do not get built by this date.
Tallest buildings in Glasgow
Rank | Name | Image | Height metres / ft |
Floors | Year | Primary use | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Glasgow Tower | ![]() |
127 / 417 | 2 | 2001 | Viewing Platform | Holds a Guinness World Record for being the tallest tower in the world in which the whole structure is capable of rotating 360 degrees. |
2 | Glasgow University Tower | 80px | 85 / 279 | ? | 1887 | University | |
3 | 15 Croftbank Street | 80px | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | |
3= | 250 Edgefauld Road | 80px | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | |
3= | 22 Viewpoint Place | 80px | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | |
3= | 42 Viewpoint Place | 80px | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | |
3= | 120 Wyndford Road | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | ||
3= | 151 Wyndford Road | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | ||
3= | 171 Wyndford Road | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | ||
3= | 190 Wyndford Road | 74 / 243 | 26 | 1964 | Residential | ||
11 | Glasgow City Chambers | 80px | 73 / 240 | 4 | 1889 | Office | |
12 | 105 Taylor Street | ![]() |
72 / 237 | 25 | 1967 | Residential | |
12= | 15 Grafton Place | ![]() |
72 / 237 | 25 | 1967 | Residential | |
12= | 178 Balgrayhill Road | 80px | 72 / 237 | 25 | 1964 | Residential | Highest man made point above sea level within Glasgow city boundary |
12= | 198 Balgrayhill Road | 80px | 72 / 237 | 25 | 1964 | Residential | Highest man made point above sea level within Glasgow city boundary |
16 | St. Andrew House | ![]() |
71 / 233 | 18 | 1964 | Hotel | Converted to a Premier Inn hotel in 2012. The rooms on the 18th Floor are the highest hotel rooms in the city. |
17 | Anniesland Court | ![]() |
66 / 217 | 24 | 1968 | Residential | Tallest listed building in Scotland. Only tower block to have a Category A listing in Glasgow. |
18 | Glasgow Hilton | 80px | 70 / 10 | 20 | 1992 | Hotel | |
19 | Glasgow Harbour Phase 2 Building 1 | 68.70 / 225 | 23 | 2009 | Residential | ||
20 | Argyle Building | ![]() |
62 / 203 | 20 | 2008 | Residential | |
20= | Cineworld | ![]() |
62 / 203 | 11 | 2001 | Cinema | Tallest Cinema complex in the world. |
Tallest under construction, approved, and proposed
Under Construction
Name | Height metres / ft |
Floors | Year (est.) | Primary use | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Scottish Power HQ | 60 / 197 | 14 | 2016 | Office | IFSD |
Approved
Name | Height metres / ft |
Floors | Year (est.) | Primary Use | Location | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
366 Cathedral Street | 65 / 213 | 23 | Student Residence | Townhead | ||
Atlantic Square Building 1 | 45 / 148 | 10 | Office | IFSD | ||
Atlantic Square Building 2 | 34 / 112 | 7 | Office | IFSD |
Proposed
Top 10 in Order of Height
Building Name | Height (m) | Floors | Main Usage | Other Usage |
---|---|---|---|---|
Savoy Centre Towers | 110.00 | 32 | Mixed | None |
Jumeirah Hotel | 92.50 | 24 | Hotel | Residential |
Custom House Quay | 69.00 | 25 | Hotel | Residential |
Sky Plaza | 49.00 | 16 | Residential | None |
10–16 Dixon Street | 44.00 | 14 | Residential | Retail |
Homes for the Future phase 2 | 44.00 | 13 | Residential | None |
Central Quay Phase 5 | 42.00 | 10 | Office | Retail |
145 St Vincent Street | 42.00 | 10 | Office | None |
Atlantic Square | 40.00 | 12 | Office | None |
Building 3 Atlantic Quay | 35.00 | 10 | Office | None |
St Andrews Wharf Residential | 34.00 | 11 | Residential | None |
Unbuilt
Name | Height metres / ft |
Floors | Year | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|
East One | 180 / 591 | 55 | ||
Cheapside Tower 1 | 170 / 558 | 50 | ||
Cheapside Tower 2 | 170 / 558 | 50 | ||
Cheapside Tower 3 | 136 / 446 | 40 | ||
Elphinstone Place | 134 / 440 | 39 | Cancelled due to the 2008 Financial crisis. Now the site of the new Scottish Power HQ. | |
Elmbank Tower | 107.5 / 353 | 28 | ||
Glasgow Harbour Tower | 93 / 305 | 30 | ||
Elphinstone Urban Village Tower 1 | 81 / 299 | 27 | ||
Graving Docks Tower 1 | 65 / 213 | 21 | ||
Elphinstone Urban Village Tower 2 | 60 / 197 | 20 |
Demolished
Name | Image | Height metres / ft |
Floors | Year built | Year demolished | Notes |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tait Tower | ![]() |
91.44 / 300 | ? | 1938 | 1939 | Built as part of the 1938 Empire Exhibition. |
109 Bluevale Street | ![]() |
90.8 / 298 | 30 | 1968 | 2015 | Was the joint tallest inhabitable building in Scotland. |
51 Whitevale Street | 80px | 90.8 / 298 | 30 | 1968 | 2015 | Was the joint tallest inhabitable building in Scotland. |
10 Red Road Court | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
33 Petershill Drive | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
63 Petershill Drive | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
93 Petershill Drive | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
123 Petershill Drive | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
21 Birnie Court | ![]() |
89 / 292 | 31 | 1967 | 2013 | Tallest Residential buildings in Europe at the time of completion. |
10-30 Petershill Court | ![]() |
79 / 259 | 31 | 1967 | 2015 | |
153-213 Petershill Court | ![]() |
79 / 259 | 31 | 1967 | 2012 |