Greening the city
Landscape design integrates measures for active travel with climate-resilient blue and green infrastructure. Along with extensive tree planting, rain gardens and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), the scheme provides widened pavements, continuous cycle infrastructure, and green corridors that support biodiversity and improve air quality. Within the square, the design balances a significant increase in green space with the retention of sufficient hard surfaces to allow continued use for public events and celebrations.

The landscape strategy emphasises native and climate-resilient planting, pollinator support, new habitats, and low-maintenance urban ecology, all of which are designed to rely solely on rainfall for irrigation. These interventions respond directly to Glasgow’s commitment, in the wake of COP26, to embed climate action and sustainability into future city-shaping projects.

To ensure that sustainability ambitions were embedded from the outset, a bespoke benchmarking tool was developed to evaluate performance across six categories: safety and security; wellbeing and comfort; environmental impact; heritage and culture; inclusion and accessibility; and social value and economic impact. This evidence-based approach allowed refinement of the design at each stage, and demonstrated significant improvements over inherited conditions.

Greening the city
Landscape design integrates measures for active travel with climate-resilient blue and green infrastructure. Along with extensive tree planting, rain gardens and Sustainable Drainage Systems (SuDS), the scheme provides widened pavements, continuous cycle infrastructure, and green corridors that support biodiversity and improve air quality. The landscape strategy emphasises native and climate-resilient planting, pollinator support, new habitats, and low-maintenance urban ecology, all of which are designed to rely solely on rainfall for irrigation. These interventions respond directly to Glasgow’s commitment, in the wake of COP26, to embed climate action and sustainability into future city-shaping projects.

To ensure that sustainability ambitions were embedded from the outset, a bespoke benchmarking tool was developed to evaluate performance across six categories: safety and security; wellbeing and comfort; environmental impact; heritage and culture; inclusion and accessibility; and social value and economic impact. This evidence-based approach allowed refinement of the design at each stage, and demonstrated significant improvements over inherited conditions.

Inclusion in process and practice
A robust community-driven engagement process guided the design’s evolution. Given the project’s long and politically sensitive history – including the cancellation of a previous redesign competition – transparency and trust-building were at the centre of the consultation methodology. Multiple high-visibility engagement rounds shaped the proposals through genuine dialogue with residents, stakeholders, and local groups. ‘You Said, We Did’ summaries after each stage demonstrated how community input directly informed decisions. A temporary exhibition in George Square showcased the finalised proposals and celebrated community ownership of the project’s direction.

Inclusivity is also a core ambition for the public space itself. The design approach is rooted in an understanding of the everyday challenges faced by a wide range of users, including people with physical, sensory, and cognitive disabilities, as well as those with temporary conditions such as pregnancy. Recognising that users’ needs can vary – and sometimes conflict – the objective was to serve the broadest possible audience without compromise. 

This aim informs every aspect of the scheme, from the selection of materials and street furniture to the provision of varied seating types, sheltered resting points, and legible routes. Within George Square, playable landscapes are carefully integrated into the wider setting through on-grade boardwalks, stepping stones and sensory planting, encouraging incidental and intergenerational use while enriching everyday experience. Across the wider streetscape, inclusivity is reinforced through consistent, accessible design measures, including seating provided at 50-metre intervals to support active travel and improve mobility across Glasgow’s steep terrain. 

By prioritising everyday usability in a historic setting for social and cultural life, the project establishes a newly active civic heart that is welcoming to all, and ready for the future.