Former Great Eastern Hotel

100 Duke Street, Glasgow

Background

The Great Eastern Hotel on Duke Street is one of Glasgow's best known landmarks and is of historic significance to the city. It was previously known as Alexander's Mill and was built originally as a cotton spinning mill. In the 1840s, Glasgow was second only to Manchester as the cotton capital of the world. This trade, however, declined dramatically after the American Civil War and today there are only four surviving buildings of this kind left in the city. (One of these is scheduled for demolition).

In many ways the Duke Street building is the most important as it was designed by renowned Glasgow Architect Charles Wilson. The construction of the building is recognised for its pioneering use of concrete and has the oldest known in-situ corrugated iron within its structure.

Milnbank Housing Association acquired the building in 1995. In recent times it had been used as a hotel and, latterly, as a hostel for homeless men. When this use ended, attention began to focus on how best to preserve the building for future use. Given it is B-listed by Historic Scotland, demolition was not an option and Glasgow based architects Elder and Cannon were employed to carry out a feasibility study to determine if the building could be converted for housing.

Development Proposals

Based on the findings of the feasibility study, Milnbank Housing Association issued a design brief inviting contractors and developers to submit their proposals. These were assessed on the quality of the submission and following this process the Glasgow based Campbell Construction Group has recently emerged as the preferred partner contractor/developer for the site. Their proposal allows for the conversion of the building into flats for sale with new housing being built on the land to the rear of the premises, which Milnbank Housing Association will provide for rent.

Further Information

To receive further information on the re-development of the former Great Eastern Hotel contact:

Alan Benson - Milnbank Housing Association (0141 551-8131)