Charing Cross Gateway demolition: phasing, access and risk notes for project teams
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Demolition and site clearance have begun on two 1960s buildings at the Elmbank Gardens site beside Glasgow’s Charing Cross station, the £250m first phase of the Charing Cross Gateway masterplan led by developer CXG Glasgow and demolition contractor Reigart Contracts. The works, running to August 2026, follow outline consent in late 2024 and a detailed student accommodation application in May 2025, with a “minded to grant” notice issued in December 2025. Network Rail and Glasgow City Council approvals require a temporary footpath and short-term diversions on Newton Street to maintain access to the Britannia Hotel and the station.
Technical Brief
- Reigart Contracts’ scope is full demolition and site clearance of two 1960s Elmbank Gardens blocks.
- Works sit on a constrained corner plot at Bath Street/Newton Street immediately adjacent to Charing Cross station.
- Temporary public footpath along Newton Street is being maintained, with short-duration diversions at key demolition stages.
- Access to the Britannia Hotel and station must be preserved throughout, constraining hoarding lines and laydown areas.
- Michael Laird Architects’ masterplan requires phase one demolition to interface cleanly with later office and residential phases.
- ESR DevCo is acting as development manager, coordinating planning, demolition logistics and future vertical construction interfaces.
- Phased approach allows early student accommodation delivery while reserving later plots for offices, private homes and retail.
Our Take
At a projected £250m, the Charing Cross Gateway masterplan sits at the upper end of urban regeneration schemes in our 537 Infrastructure stories, signalling that Glasgow City Council is backing city-centre intensification rather than edge-of-town growth.
The 2024 outline consent followed by a 2025 detailed application and a 2026 demolition-complete target suggests an unusually compressed planning-to-enabling works window for Glasgow, which may influence how Network Rail and adjacent landowners sequence any future works around Charing Cross station.
With Reigart Contracts leading demolition ahead of ESR DevCo’s redevelopment, contractors in our database will note that early engagement on complex city-centre clearances is becoming a key differentiator for winning follow-on construction phases on similar UK schemes.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
