River Clyde building, Glasgow waterfront regeneration, Property developments photos

River Clyde Buildings : Waterfront Debate

Clydeside Development, Glasgow Riverfront, Strathclyde, Scotland

post updated 24 July 2023

Glasgow Waterfront

Programme with Muriel Gray interviewing David Page, Paul Stallan, Gordon Murray, Alan Dunlop, Eleanor McAllister and various others: like the David Dimbleby programme on Sunday which had a dig at the Scottish Parliament it didn’t really get properly stuck in but unlike Dimbelby at least Muriel engaged some political thinking and sought out both locals, developers and architects

Muriel Gray leads TV debate on waterfront projects

Building Britain, BBC1
18 Jun, 10.35pm

Broadcaster and writer Muriel Gray is to front a TV debate on the merits of Glasgow’s new waterfront developments.

Opinions vary on the flats springing up along the banks of the Clyde with some saying they’ll place the city up with Europe’s top destinations.

Others claim the waterfront developments will make us look idiots in years to come.

Now the BBC documentary Building Britain – which accompanies David Dimbleby’s How We Built Britain series for BBC 1 – will explore all sides of the argument re the city’s emerging waterfront buildings.

Muriel, who lives in Glasgow, believes planners had better get the waterfront developments right.

She says: “This is one of the most exciting opportunities and one that won’t come again for many decades.

“The big question is whether this change will be one we are proud to have been part of or one that will make our grandchildren curse us for being a bunch of greedy short-sighted fools who ruined their river.”

As one of the biggest and most ambitious regeneration projects in Europe, the waterfront development has become the focus of controversy and debate among city planners, developers, architects and the people of Glasgow.

Muriel looks at the communities along the Clyde who fear they’ll be left behind.

And she examines the accusations that some of the current waterfront plans appear to be based on short-term financial gain rather than a longer-term desire to reinstate the river at the heart of a 21st century city.

She added: “I don’t know any Glaswegian who doesn’t have a major love affair with this river, the River Clyde.

“We’ve been kept away from it for so many years it’s always a brilliant thing to make contact with it. It’s not just the history, it’s the physical beauty of it.”

Most major European cities, such as Paris, Hamburg and Dublin, have long-seen the potential in waterfront development.

A BBC spokesman said: “Building Britain looks at the successes, the disappointments and the vision for the future and will be followed by local debates broadcast on BBC local radio.”

River Clyde

River Clyde images by Adrian Welch