We wanted to focus on ‘knitting the city back together’, not simply inserting a major stadium project on this site. We looked at other parts of the city and imagined a ‘skeleton’ on which we could gently replicate and grow the urban forms of the existing city

In September 2007, Turley Associates was commissioned to prepare a planning framework for Dalmarnock in Glasgow’s East End, site of the proposed National Indoor Sports Arena (NISA). The objective of the study was to illustrate the physical potential for radical ‘place change’ in Dalmarnock (the focus of Glasgow’s bid to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games), to explore the impact of the stadium, scheduled for delivery in 2012, and examine its potential to drive regeneration.

The East End of Glasgow is set to receive significant public investment, both through the ongoing Clyde Gateway Initiative and through the 2014 Games. Along the edges of NISA lie the East End Regeneration Route (EERR), scheduled for delivery by 2013, and the proposed site of the Commonwealth Games Village.

With so much investment planned, it may seem reasonable to assume that ‘place change’ and the long-term regeneration of Dalmarnock are natural by-products of this investment. However, the team robustly tested the emerging ideas in the context of the existing market condition in this part of Glasgow. Its work clearly illustrated that the decision to invest in large-scale facilities such as NISA was no guarantee of long-term regeneration for the broader area.

The NISA site, the land that surrounds it and the small community of Dalmarnock, sit as an island in the east end of Glasgow. This isolation has been created, among other reasons, by arterial routes that run north and south of the area and by the London Road Goods and Minerals Station and the derelict land that its closure, in 1984, created. The existence of the river on the eastern and southern boundary of Dalmarnock, and Celtic Park football stadium to the north, complete this isolation. Physically, Dalmarnock is an area that looks in upon itself and, perhaps because of this fact, is dominated by the most significant feature in its landscape; Celtic Park.

Around the existing stadium there is an overwhelming ‘sense of space’. Until recently there had been no demand to develop sites surrounding the stadium. The current proposals for NISA indicate a large amount of additional space around the building, particularly a large public space between it and Celtic Park. Add to this mix the open areas alongside the East End Regeneration Route and the large areas given over to car parking and SUDS schemes, and it is clear that space will be a recurring feature, even in a fully redeveloped site.

The brief identified a number of these sites as possible areas for development; this study has created an overall spatial vision. There is a dichotomy between designing for the levels of space assumed to be required around a major sporting arena and designing for a new community. The City had little objection to the concept of developing sites around the stadia, nor to the notion of limiting the amount of circulation space.

Difficulties with the NISA site include the overwhelming amount of space, and the lack of context for the building and spaces to sit within. In the vision for place change, some emphasis has been placed on strengthening context, for example around Springfield Cross.
From engagement with stakeholders, Turley Associates felt that the principle of place change would be best served by quite intensive development around NISA and, to a lesser extent, Celtic Park. Public realm around NISA is of value but its design must be considered in the context of development sites capable of forming, defining and overlooking these spaces.

Turley Associates never felt that NISA was a viable local centre in the way that nearby Bridgeton or Parkhead Cross are. Community use in NISA is internalised and does not open out to the street. There are restrictions on community use and access during major events. In addition, community access is focused on the southern entrance, well away from the main public spaces and London Road.

Glasgow’s urban form is punctuated by a series of major routes and crossroads. While the city has many fine public buildings sitting within large spaces, these sit within a broader urban form. It is the interplay and interrelationship between these elements and the broader urban fabric that form the character of these places. We wanted to focus on ‘knitting the city back together’, not simply inserting a major stadium project on this site. We looked at other parts of the city and imagined a ‘skeleton’ on which we could gently replicate and grow the urban forms of the existing city.

However, if facilities in NISA complemented facilities at a revitalised Springfield Cross, then NISA could indeed make a major contribution to a larger community hub. Development further south, could also serve to strengthen existing facilities. Indeed, the discussion led to the development of ideas for a new Dalmarnock Cross. Such an approach would create a strong urban quarter which in itself had a series of complementary community hubs. Each would have a slightly different scale and character but together, form the key nodes of a thriving mixed use quarter.

Traditional urban quarters in Glasgow contain a wide range of uses, elements and activities. In the West End of Glasgow for example, buildings like Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, although major visitor attractions in their own right, maximise their impact by being part of a much wider visitor experience. They are surrounded by a range of other public facilities, open spaces and commercial outlets in the form of cafes, restaurants and bars.

The potential to create a new urban quarter where water management, the River Clyde and a new river park are all integrated elements in the public realm, is significant. The planning framework therefore sees a number of positive developments surrounding NISA, with this central feature complemented by these other uses.

Fundamentally, the vision is of a new urban quarter, anchored on:

• the reinvention of Springfield Cross to the north;
• defining the public realm between NISA and Celtic Park;
• a western gateway and edge to London Road;
• a new Dalmarnock Cross to the south;
• a revitalised Springfield Road as the spine;
• integrating water management with public spaces;
• activating the river’s edge.