Sauchiehall Street: Culture and Heritage District

Glasgow Life are mid-way through an 18-month development project, working closely with residents, visitors, businesses and cultural organisations to create a new vision for Sauchiehall Street as a Culture and Heritage district. By looking back and celebrating the street’s history as a place of vibrancy and culture, the project aims to uncover, animate and renew the area by engaging a wider audience with its heritage and bring more people in the conversation about its future.

Through a programme of activity, we will work closely with the community, organisations and businesses to unearth, pilot and test new ideas and create a new vision for the street, using heritage as a starting point.

The geographical area which will be the focus of this project is Sauchiehall Street, Bath Street and Renfrew Street, Garnethill and the adjoining side streets. It is book ended by Mitchell Library and The Royal Concert Hall.

This work is supported by National Lottery Heritage Fund’s new UK-wide Heritage Places programme.

The programme is made up of three strands:

We will work with residents, business and visitors to unearth the aspects of Sauchiehall Street’s culture and heritage which people think are important and would like to celebrate. This will include mapping the area to understand better the historic narratives, and physical assets which the street houses, as well as understanding the different archives held by organisations on the street.

As part of this strand, we will have two Heritage Artists in Communities commissions, and a Community Heritage Grants programme for local community and heritage organisations, community groups and businesses with social aims.

We are pleased to announce that projects from Craig McCorquodale, and Alice Brown and Ellie Mills have been selected for our Heritage Artists in Communities programme. Over 6 months, they will work with different community groups, organisations, visitors, residents and businesses on and around Sauchiehall Street to explore the stories, memories and histories which people would like to celebrate, and dreams for the future.

This strand of activity will focus on working with cultural organisations to commission activities happening on and around the street to encouraging footfall and engagement with the street’s heritage.

Working closely with Glasgow City Council, we will identify future ambitions and new uses for heritage buildings on the street, looking towards their renewal.

At the end of the project, the project team will write up a 10-year plan for the street informed by the outcomes from the programme, as directed by the community. A new application will be submitted to National Lottery Heritage Fund to access 10 years’ worth of funding to seed new projects and successes from the development phase.