Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership
The Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership (GCRP) aims to regenerate and transform the North Glasgow’s canal area into a vibrant local and city destination - for living, working, visiting and creating. It is a partnership between Glasgow City Council, Scottish Canals, and their development partners ISIS Waterside Regeneration and IGLOO Regeneration. The GCRP and others have delivered and facilitated a range of developments - such as new housing, premises for business, cultural and arts organisations, improvement to paths and the environment - that have started to reinvigorate and reconnect communities with the canal. In doing so, the former perception of the canal as an undesirable environment that divided communities is being reversed to that of an attractive and unique physical asset and recreational resource with considerable regeneration potential.
Dundashill, a new neighbourhood of 600 homes currently under development, Image by HTA Architects
The vision for the canal corridor is firmly anchored in the need to create high quality ‘people places’, both on and along the canal edges and in its neighbouring communities. Public consultation carried out across the canal corridor led to a regeneration vision in 2007. Building on this in 2013, there was a ‘refocusing’ workshop to establish new regeneration priorities and actions. These went on to form the Canal Action Plan (CAP) which outlines the regeneration approach and proposed activity along the Glasgow Canal corridor for 2015-2020. It has been GCRP’s role to take forward the CAP’s action programme, in close collaboration with other public, private and community sector partners.
The ongoing regeneration of Glasgow's Canal and wider North Glasgow area is an exciting, diverse transformation - in part made possible through the award-winning Glasgow Canal Regeneration Partnership, a true testament to collective partnership and tenacity. This multi-agency team includes diverse partners: Glasgow City Council, Scottish Canals, Glasgow Canal Co-op, local housing associations and regeneration bodies. Since its inception the GCRP has developed organically, shaped by the needs of local communities - both current and future - aiding the ongoing transformation of the area into a vibrant local and city destination. With regeneration activity around the Canal including 3,000 new homes, improvements in infrastructure through the Smart Canal and Sighthill Bridge, and the development of the Urban Sports Hub at Pinkston, the GCRP is facilitating the regeneration of the Canal area into a thriving area for people to live, work and play.
Allan Gow, Councillor - Glasgow City Council
The GCRP does not have a ring-fenced budget; individual projects are funded through a variety of sources, including direct membership contributions, City Deal, Scottish Government (e.g. RCGF and VDLF), Sustrans and the Hertiage Lottery Fund.
New Housing, Image by GCRP
Header image: Glasgow Canal Festival, an annual celebration produced by the Glasgow Canal Co-op, Image by Keith Hunter Photography