Hielanman's Umbrella Design Enhancement

Tender description

This is an exciting opportunity for an innovative design consultancy who have the capability to bring fresh ideas to a culturally and historically important location in Glasgow City Centre. We want to lighten the space and make it more appealing to a wider variety of visitors in order to make it more vibrant, safer and a real destination with interest and strong cultural references. Whilst the project is considered relatively small scale in nature, it is anticipated to be high profile with plans attracting attention from a broad local and potentially national audience; The overall purpose of this project is to design inclusive, small scale but impactful interventions to enhance the environmental amenity and general appearance of under the Hielanman’s Umbrella space as well as improving the sense of security and wellbeing for all users, including disability groups. This will require innovative and imaginative solutions to overcome the existing constraints, particularly the category A listed status and lack of natural light; The Council is also keen that sustainability, and in particular, circular economy principles, underpin the main design features. This might include the reuse of materials from elsewhere or designing features with a degree of flexibility so that they also might be used elsewhere at a future date if such circumstances prevail; Extensive engagement has taken place over recent years with a wide variety of stakeholders and user groups following the Central District Regeneration Framework and the Central Station Area Action Plan. For this contract, it is expected that the design team will liaise with the identified stakeholders to obtain their agreement to the proposed design. The main stakeholders include Network Rail, Historic Environment Scotland, business owners, relevant local youth charity(ies) and relevant Glasgow City Council services; The Hielanman’s Umbrella forms a strategic point in the Council’s avenues programme between the Argyle Street West and Argyle Street East projects due to begin in 2024. The detailed plans for these projects are yet to be finalised but they will aim to improve the road layout and parts of the public realm. The intention of this current project, subject to this contract, is to enhance the other elements of the space during the interim period i.e. the intention of these works is not to introduce hard public realm features, like hard landscaping, but to focus instead on softer, cultural interventions that are interesting, functional and flexible. Working closely with the City Centre Avenue’s teams will be fundamental in producing a coherent design that compliments future regeneration plans. Glasgow City Council are seeking to appoint a lead consultant, supported by a multi-disciplinary consultancy team, to develop a design for the environmental enhancement of the area under the railway bridge, commonly known as Hielanman's Umbrella.