Laurieston Living, Glasgow – Urban Union

A £140m revitalisation fund for 1,000 mixed tenure homes, flexible commercial space, community facilities, open space and recreation areas hopes to change perceptions of Glasgow’s Gorbals for good. A five-year arts strategy has been created by WAVE, 166 Gorbals events space and Linear Park support social enterprise and wellbeing alongside out-reach schemes through different partnerships in Laurieston Living’s masterplan.

Who is on the project team? 

Urban Union

Describe the context of this project and the point it has reached in its development. When is the project expected to complete? 

Laurieston Living is currently one of three regeneration projects being delivered by Urban Union in Scotland. Based in the Gorbals area of Glasgow, is benefitting from a £140m revitalisation spend which will see four phases delivered over a nine-year period. This includes over 1,000 mixed tenure homes, flexible commercial space, community facilities, open space, and recreation areas. 

For many across Glasgow, the Gorbals area has been synonymous with deprivation and poor housing. However, over the past decade the city centre has undergone a transformation, and the surrounding communities have not always been able to share Glasgow’s investment and success. The ongoing work at Laurieston aims to transform the local community, reconnect the area with surrounding neighbourhoods, change perceptions and create a vibrant community which all residents can be proud of. 

Phase 1A saw 201 homes constructed for social rent in partnership with New Gorbals Housing Association (NGHA). Phase 1B delivered a further 108 homes – 39 for mid-market rent with NGHA and 69 for private sale through Urban Union. Phase 1C delivered 55 apartments for New Gorbals Housing Association. Phase 2 delivered a total of 173 homes and comprised mostly private sales. The sales success of Phase 2 was astounding, even against a backdrop of COVID-19, and is a testament to the quality of the affordable private homes on offer and the impact Laurieston Living is having on the community. 

For Phase 3, work has commenced, and is due to be complete by summer 2026.

How are you seeking to foster community, welcome visitors and attract tenants? How are you responding to changing demographics, behaviour, market context, policy, transport habits and the climate crisis since winning planning? 

Urban Union is committed to creating communities, not simply building new homes. By working in an open and collaborative way we have delivered an inclusive and sustainable new district. The tenure property types at Laurieston has provided a real opportunity to build a community where rent and sales price are not an exclusion. This has been key to both keeping Gorbals natives in the area and attracting young professionals, first time buyers, and families. To create communities and welcome visitors, we established a significant ’Arts Strategy’. Arts organisation WAVE, has created a five-year arts strategy for the area with the ambition of exploring and connecting to the rich history of Laurieston, its people, places, interests, inspirations & aspirations.

Engagement with Schools in the local area is high they have had the opportunity to participate in a competition to re-design their own school grounds. More recently Urban Union opened an event space at 166 Gorbals , which is free for everyone in the community to use. Urban Union has appointed a dedicated community benefits officer to Laurieston who engages with the community to find solutions that truly benefit them. As the development has matured and new phases have come to fruition, we have interacted with the community to ensure they are fully engaged with plans to help shape the regeneration work being driven by the company. One of the key aspects of that will be the creation of a Linear Park – providing Laurieston residents with greenspace they can call their own.

What is your sustainability strategy and how are you mitigating carbon use and construction pollution? 

Exceptionally high industry standards are a key part of the design commitment, with all new homes on the development achieving an ’EcoHomes’ rating of ’Very Good’, meeting with ’Secured by Design’ criteria. All partners have committed to a well-insulated envelope to all buildings, large window openings to provide natural daylight, robust and sustainable materials throughout, recycling facilities and a large percentage of external amenity space, both communal and private.

During design development sustainability has been central to decision making as three of GCC and NGHA key regeneration objectives were to address fuel poverty, enhance energy efficiency and tackle the impacts of a changing climate (this has become a higher priority year on year). We achieved these objectives by:

- Procuring locally sourced materials to reduce our carbon footprint (CO2 emissions) and address levels of harmful nitrogen dioxide caused by transport emissions.

- Identifying high efficiency central heating systems with A-rated condensing gas boilers, key to achieving lower energy bills and addressing fuel poverty (1/4 of Glasgow households spend at least 10% of their income on fuel).

- Specifying materials with low embodied energy, toxicity, maintenance requirements and levels of waste.

- Fitting high levels of insulation to improve energy performance SAP ratings, reduce fuel costs and improve the quality of life/health of residents.

- Installing low energy lighting and maximising solar gain through careful orientation and large areas of glazing.

- Utilising MMC and offsite manufacturing to increase quality and minimise site waste.

Describe the social impact of the project: How is this place contributing to the economic, environmental and social wellbeing of its citizens? 

Urban Union strongly believes in the need to create genuine opportunities for locals as a key factor in community regeneration. To achieve this the organisation is dedicated to delivering educational opportunities in the construction industry for local young people. An example of this is our partnership with local Holyrood High School where we introduced an employability programme - trailblazing a better future for bright young people, supporting them with a pathway from school to further education. 

In 2020 we donated to the Gorbals Ideas Fund (GIF), a community-led participatory budgeting programme which supports local projects in areas including health and wellbeing, and culture and diversity. The GIF uses community and participatory budgeting, that puts decisions about funding into the hands of local people, providing every one of the area’s 9,000 residents with a vote.

We also partnered with Invisible Cities; a social enterprise that trains people who have experienced homelessness to become walking tour guides of their own city. With our donation, a new walking tour launched in 2021 which focused on the cultural landmarks in Laurieston and the Gorbals.

Over the past few years we have facilitated 107 work placements, 28 jobs and 25 apprenticeships, 55% of these positions have been for local people who live less than 0.2 miles from the Laurieston development.