Plans for a new Scottish Opera headquarters and over 700 purpose-built student accommodations (PBSA) beds in Glasgow have been recommended for approval by city planners. The project will go before councillors next week.
The scheme is set to be named New Rotterdam Wharf and would see the new operatic headquarters flanked by two PBSA blocks. Income from selling the PBSA blocks would provide funding for the Scottish Opera development.
Council planners concluded that the scheme can secure the future of Scottish Opera in the city and presents a major opportunity to regenerate brownfield land that was originally the Port Dundas Power Station site.
The new Scottish Opera HQ would have a rooftop garden, which could be used for small music performances.
There would also be a large orchestra rehearsal studio, which would be able to accommodate an audience of around 200, an education studio, a rehearsal space which could be let to other creative organisations, and practice rooms which can double as dressing rooms.
Planners also said the “ongoing success” of Scottish Opera is “crucial to the cultural ecology of the city”.
“Approval of this mixed-use scheme not only secures the future of Scottish Opera and supports the ongoing success of the adjacent cultural quarter, but also presents a major opportunity to regenerate a brownfield site, improving the setting of and access to the western side of the Forth and Clyde Canal.”
Planning report
Documents submitted to the council said talks with a major PBSA operator were at an advanced stage, but they were not named for commercial confidentiality reasons.
