Our Vision

We are striving to reimagine St. Enoch Centre as a focal hub within the city and transform it into a place that prioritises people. Given its prime location within the city centre, we recognise the opportunity St. Enoch Centre presents to become Scotland’s foremost mixed-use development, showcasing the best of retail, leisure, entertainment, hotel, commercial and city centre living. The scale and ambition of our proposals could take up to 20 years to deliver and are subject to several detailed planning consents.

In total, we are proposing to deliver 2.5m sq ft of mixed-use space. As we are in early stages of our proposal and for the purposes of outline planning consent, we have proposed that the site will comprise of:

• Revitalised shopping and leisure space
• Up to 1700 homes
• High quality office space, including the former Debenhams building
• A four-star hotel
• Unique performance space>/li>
• A civic square in the heart of the scheme

As proposals are in early stages, these sizes are likely to change and will be refined based on feedback from planning officers.

There has been a significant shift in lifestyle choices over the last 10 years and creating space that combines lots of different uses is imperative to creating a successful development that can stand the test of time. That said, we also recognise the rich history that St. Enoch site is rooted in and that’s why our plans have sensitively incorporated the retention of key buildings such as the Buck’s Head building and former Debenhams store.

• Sovereign Centros – developer
• Leslie Jones Architecture – architect
• Oobe – landscape consultant
• Iceni Projects – planning consultancy
• Woolgar Hunter – engineering consultancy
• Atelier Ten – environmental design and consultants

Our trusted project team has a track record of delivering ambitious, sustainable and high-quality developments across the UK. Collectively we bring decades of experience in planning, design and development and we want to combine our expertise to deliver a flagship development at St. Enoch.

Glasgow presents an opportunity to become a world-class destination with its diverse, innovative and welcoming culture woven into its fabric. It is evident that it is already an attractive location, with many  significant development projects already underway across the city. However, parts of the city would benefit from redevelopment and rejuvenation, including the St. Enoch Centre and surrounding area. Central to our vision is creating a more open, accessible place that has improved connectivity to the River Clyde - another important epicentre of development opportunities - and the wider city. We have proposed to reinstate the historic north and south street connections, which would affirm St. Enoch Square as one of the most recognisable and important hubs in the city.

Although some great work has taken place to revitalise the centre, St. Enoch Centre still has a great deal of untapped potential. It does not fit with the wider city centre streetscape and the current bespoke concrete structure has very limited capacity for other uses, leaving little leeway to re-imagine the building. From an environmental perspective, the existing centre has a very poor energy rating – undermining Glasgow City Council’s Sustainability strategy. We want to create a more sustainable and environmentally considered development that will cater for changing lifestyle habits, which have significantly changed since the centre opened in 1989.

The former Debenhams building is an iconic stature of Argyle Street and St. Enoch Centre and will be retained as part of our proposals. We have earmarked this space for Grade A, efficient workspace that would be attractive to businesses seeking a flexible and central location. Should we receive planning permission to change the Debenhams space from retail to office use, we would seek to redevelop the space as part of the first project phase and secure a new occupier for it as soon as possible.

We have developed our proposals to demonstrate how a mix of high-quality homes could be delivered. This could include a mix of private homes for sale and for rent, build to rent, student accommodation and co-living spaces. We are proposing delivering up to 917 homes over a series of buildings. It is too early to provide more detail or a breakdown on type of homes, however our vision for the residential offering demonstrates our accessible and inclusive approach to development.

Importantly, the new proposals do not seek to push out current retailers, but instead are designed to give them a better home and trading environment. The connected streetscape proposed in plans will also help connect the city in a new way, creating an exciting destination for visitors and enabling Glasgow to retain its reputation as the best shopping district outside of London. Creating a best-in-class food and beverage, leisure and retail offer is a core part of our proposals. We will seek to retain and secure brands that chime with our target audience, create leisure uses that provide different experiences and sign-up high quality food operators that will attract visitors and increase the amount of time they spend in and around the centre.

To deliver a successful development, sustainability must be considered from the outset of the planning process and should include social, environmental and economic factors. Our design is aligned with Scottish Government’s climate change and sustainability efforts, as well as Glasgow City Council’s road to net zero agenda.

Glasgow’s character is a result of its people, and we are committed to taking everyone on the journey with us. We have now secured outline planning, but we still have a lot of work to do and will engage with people at future stages of our proposals to ensure we can listen, gather feedback and adapt plans to match the needs of the city. The scale of the proposed project means that it could take up to 20 years to complete the delivery of our vision for St. Enoch Centre. We appreciate this is a long time and would like to involve key stakeholders, local community groups and the public as we progress.

As of May 2023, we secured outline planning permission. We are currently refining designs and will hold further community consultations which will be promoted. If we are able to progress, the reconfiguration of St. Enoch Centre would be split into four or five key planning and project phases. The centre would remain operational and we would communicate with tenants and stakeholders regularly. The scale of the proposals means that it could take up to 20 years to deliver the completed vision for St. Enoch Centre. We appreciate this is a long time and would like to involve key stakeholders, local community groups and the public as we move through this journey.

Our masterplan will take between 15-20 years to realise if we secure the necessary approvals. Our proposals do not impact any current lease agreements and we will still seek to secure new names for the centre. We have built in enough flexibility to accommodate the brands we have within St. Enoch Centre, to ensure they can remain with us, albeit in a better trading environment.