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The proposed accommodation block would sit just a stone’s throw from the James McCune Smith Learning Hub.

The University of Glasgow is planning to build a brand-new student accommodation block on the main Gilmorehill campus. The accommodation block is set to contain 460 single student bedrooms right at the heart of the University campus in what is to become “the university’s first purpose built student residences for over 20 years at the heart of the city’s west end”.

The plans are set to be the latest development as part of the University’s ongoing campus development. Planning permission submitted to Glasgow City Council shows the new accommodation block sitting on the corner of Church Street and Dumbarton road, on the site of what was the old Western Infirmary building. Planning permission for the University to develop the site was established in 2017.

The proposed development would see the incorporation of Anderson College, a building on the site which currently hosts the controversial Glasgow International College which offers access courses to the University for international students. The college would be partially demolished in order to allow for a “new extension to the rear of the building which will partly contain the proposed courtyard which forms part of the proposed student accommodation” with the college being retained as a “learning and teaching space for the University of Glasgow.”

This news comes two years after a lack of accommodation resulted in the University housing students in hotels. In the academic years since, the University has also ramped up its student accommodation capacity via nominated agreements with private accommodation providers.

A report by the Cross Party Group on Housing, released last month, also found that thousands of students across Scotland were at risk of homelessness as a result of a shortage of student beds. The report found that Glasgow had a shortfall of over 6,000 student beds.

Published 15 October 2024