Former RBS Glasgow office set for student housing overhaul

The owner of a storied Glasgow property that was most recently the city headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland plans to turn it into student accommodation. 250 St Vincent Street, built in 1878, was originally the MacLean’s Hotel and then the Windsor Hotel, before being turned into offices in the late 1980s. RBS took the space but left most of it in 2015, and it has been vacant since 2018. The building has planning permission to be turned back into a hotel, but fresh plans are now underway to redevelop it as student housing. In planning documents drafted for applicant VRS6, architecture firm FaulknerBrowns said: “The building possesses great potential to be brought back into use as a student residential scheme. This exciting proposal would bring this building to life once again. “It will breathe new life back into this corner of Blythswood Hill, bringing opportunity and animation to this end of St Vincent Street and the character area beyond.” The scheme would have 146 bedrooms – 140 studios with kitchenettes, beds and ensuite showers, as well as six duplex rooms split across the first two floors. A demand assessment report from Cushman & Wakefield noted that the city has seen “limited development over the last five years, exacerbating undersupply issues”. The agency added: “The city is currently in the midst of a housing crisis, with vast waiting lists for social housing and little residential or student housing options. Students have resorted to living out of the city and commuting with lack of alternative options.” Keeping the site in its current use would be unviable, FaulknerBrowns said, given the “struggle to attract office tenants”. “Following a refurbishment programme, the building was returned to the market – however, despite significant effort to attract new interest, the property has continued to stand empty and unused,” it said. “Market testing has shown that demand is poor for the type of office accommodation available at 250 St Vincent Street in its current format. The reasons for this range from the wrong location to the limited size and flexibility of the spaces available in the existing building.” Check out planning decisions in Glasgow >>