George Square: Our Place Glasgow

In mid-2021, New Practice were appointed by Glasgow City Council to deliver stakeholder and community engagement to support a team led by John McAslan + Partners, guiding the redevelopment of George Square and the surrounding Avenues.

George Square is Glasgow’s most important civic space, a plaza at the heart of the city centre that supports a wide variety of uses, from concerts and markets to demonstrations and celebrations. This redevelopment process represents a vital opportunity to work with local people to understand what Glasgwegians want the Square to be in the future and what uses it should support.

The design ambition for George Square and its Avenues builds upon those set out in the City Centre Strategy and the Avenues Programme. The aim is to improve the public realm to rebalance traffic modes, introduce green and SMART infrastructure, and place “people” firmly at the heart of the project vision and design strategy.

In Stage 1, which ran from February to March 2022, a project specific website and two digital surveys were launched. Participants could respond to two surveys, one focussed specifically on George Square and a second which covered design outcomes for The Avenues generally. The two surveys were broken into key themes to help structure the information shared. These themes were; greenspace, future uses, history and legacy, the environment, and active travel and transport.

The website launch and survey period was supported through a campaign of promoted social media encouraging participation in the surveys and linking to further information on the project. In addition, a dedicated email address and voicemail number were established, allowing the public to send thoughts and queries beyond their participation in the two digital surveys.

These digital surveys and conversations around George Square and the surrounding Avenues generated a wealth of information and data - helping to better understand local residents' perceptions of the project area, and providing significant input to shape the development of design proposals as the project progresses into design stages.

Stage 2 and Stage 3 ran from Summer 2021 to Summer 2023. For this period we designed a public and invited stakeholder engagement programme in which participants had the opportunity to provide feedback on ‘sketch proposals’ that had been developed by the design team using the feedback from stage 1 as a guide. As in stage 1, two public surveys were launched, and in addition, there were two opportunities for the public to drop-in and meet members of the design team in-person at our bespoke pop-up exhibition that stood in George Square for the duration of stage 2. Following this period the exhibition structure was donated to a Glasgow based social enterprise and forms the centre piece of a new pocket park in the East of the city.

In addition in-depth ‘Designing for Everyone’ workshops delved into particular themes - ‘Greenspace and Environmental Sustainability’, ‘Future Uses of George Square and Heritage / Monuments / Public Art’, and ‘Transport and Active Travel’. Local and national stakeholders were invited, with attendees including representatives from the NHS, Architecture and Design Scotland, Sight Scotland, Glasgow Disability Alliance, Cycling Scotland, among many others key demographic groups.

New Practice also facilitated focussed workshops with local businesses based around George Square and the surrounding Avenues. During these sessions, the team from John McAslan + Partners presented the sketch and developing detailed proposals, and participants provided feedback on the designs using a SWOT analysis and through lively discussion.

Prior to starting construction a final element of engagement was undertaken, a second temporary exhibition which shared the final designs, project development and key information on heritage, statues and vision to be delivered at this important piece of public realm.