World stage bid: Glasgow intends to emulate Manchester’s successwhen it hosts the Commonwealth Games in 2014. By Stacey Meadwell.
“My advice for developers in Glasgow would be to get stuck in,” says Tom Bloxham, chairman of property developer Urban Splash. He believes hosting the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002 was incredibly important for creating confidence in the city. And, as if to prove a point, it is developing 1,400 homes plus commercial space in New Islington, close to the City of Manchester stadium, which was built as the centrepiece for the games.
That the Commonwealth Games in Manchester acted as a major catalyst to regenerate a rundown and shabby part of the northern city is not in doubt. It is this success that Glasgow will be looking to emulate for its own deprived 99-acre East End site now that it has won the bid to host the games in 2014 – not least because the city failed to capitalise on the success of the Garden Festival in the 1980s.
“Glasgow council got it horribly wrong with the Garden Festival site, which is still not fully developed 15 years later. This time, it is determined not to make the same mistake,” says David Davidson, managing director at Cushman & Wakefield.
Stadiums old and new
In hosting the games, Glasgow will use many existing sporting venues, such as Hampden Park, Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium. Three sporting venues will be built, plus the athletes’ village.
Glasgow will receive intangible benefits from how effectively the city presents itself to the rest of the world.
Bloxham says that when Manchester was bidding for the 2002 games, London-based media made derisory jokes about new events, including “sprinting from the police”. “When Manchester put in its bid, it showed that it wanted to compete on the same international stage as cities such as Sydney, rather than the Scunthorpes and the Grimsbys. Nobody thought it could be a success but it was.”
Manchester’s profile on the world stage was raised and its image has arguably never been better. If the Bank of New York had had an office requirement prior to 2002, it is debatable whether it would have seriously considered the North West city. In the end, and with a degree of irony, it chose Manchester over Glasgow for its requirement in 2004.
So, what are the tangible benefits to the city and its property industry?
House price growth is already becoming evident. In the five years up to Manchester hosting the games, city-centre residential values rose by nearly double those in the rest of the North West. Prices in the East End of Glasgow are also expected to double.
Infrastructure will also be key. It is hoped that having a timeline in place will spur the public sector into action.
The M74 extension is on the cards. This is vital to ease congestion on the Kingston Bridge and create an alternative motorway route around the city. An airport rail link and an eastern extension to the subway are also planned.
The M74 extension is the closest to being delivered, as it has the relevant consents, although first minister Alex Salmond’s Scottish National Party announced recently that work would not be started in the next financial year.
Davidson says: “The biggest impact would be from the M74 extension. It will open up huge development opportunities. People are already anticipating this and buying up land in places such as Cambuslang.”
He cites Farme Castle industrial estate in Rutherglen as an example. He believes that the only justification for the sub-5% yield that the sale reflected was an anticipated big jump in rents.
Norman Pollock, partner in charge of Glasgow offices at King Sturge, agrees: “We have just received an incredible offer on a residential site in the area, which is well above our expectations of site value.”
The M74 will be Scotland’s most expensive bit of road. If it is not built, it will be a major embarrassment for the city. Construction will take two years, so its completion before the start of the games is possible.
Ready or not?
Whether the airport rail link and the tube extensions will be ready is debatable if, indeed, likely. The best that can be hoped for is that at least one will be under way. The airport link will help ease congestion on the M8 to the west, and the subway extension will tap into a valuable pool of labour.
“If the city delivers the proposed infrastructure, then the property market will follow,” says Stephen Tucker, director for regeneration Scotland at Turley Associates.
New roads and better public transport would certainly be a valuable legacy. Using unlocked land, securing lasting regeneration and integrating the sporting facilities and athletes’ village into the surrounding communities effectively would make the legacy gold tinged.
Key facts
- Bid cost £5m
- Budget of £298m has been set
- 99-acre site in Dalmarnock to be regenerated
- Athletes’ village of nearly 1,000 homes, a hotel and a transport hub
- Key infrastructure improvement will be the M74 motorway extension
- House prices in the area expected to rise from £112,000 to £225,000
- A national entertainment arena will be built on the site of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
- The national indoor sports arena, national velodrome cycling track and hockey centre will be built near the athletes’ village
