Weymss Properties - Hillhead Baptist Church
Wemyss Properties has submitted planning and listed building consent applications, seeking to demolish the former church building and redevelop the site for flatted residential accommodation.
UPDATE – APRIL 2025: Planning Application
Hillhead Baptist Church – Neighbour Re-Notification (24/01935/LBA and 24/01934/FUL)
Following the submission of the applications for planning permission and listed building consent in August 2024 for the “Demolition of building and erection of flatted residential development (32 units) with associated landscaping and infrastructure,” the proposed development at Hillhead Baptist Church has undergone several revisions, following feedback on the proposals from Glasgow City Council and stakeholders.
As a result of these comments, several changes to the applications have been made. These include:
- Revisions to the designs, including:
- The proportions of the corner bay have been refined and integrated into the roofscape at the upper level.
- Alterations to the window arrangements, particularly on upper floors, to ensure a more consistent rhythm and bring dormer heads below the ridge line of the roof.
- A redesign of the main entrance to create a more prominent and welcoming gateway to the building.
- A change to red sandstone as the primary material for street-facing elevations. The roof material has also been changed to grey zinc, which is considered more complementary to the neighbouring slate roofs.
- Internal layouts of individual apartments have been re-worked to enhance amenity.
- New landscape drawings and a landscape strategy have been produced for the courtyard and street frontage. Architectural features such as columns, fenestration and windows will be preserved and displayed in the garden.
- Other supporting documents, including the Daylight/Sunlight assessment, Embodied Carbon and Circular Economy Statement, Drainage Strategy and Surface Water Management Plan, have been updated to reflect the design changes.
- An updated Stone Condition Report has been produced by Simpson and Brown, following a further condition inspection in November 2024.
These design changes seek to create a more harmonious relationship between the new building and the existing architectural fabric of the adjacent buildings, within the Hillhead Conservation Area.
Copies of all amended plans will be available to view on the Council’s website, and a presentation summarising these can be found here.
Site History
The main building, formerly occupied by Hillhead Baptist Church, was vacated 20 years ago, and the congregation then met within the Tryst (single storey attached hall) until late 2016.
In 2000, Historic Environment Scotland (HES) published a report highlighting the poor condition of the building, as a result of unfavourable ground conditions, shortcomings in the design of the building and lack of investment. Because of the costs involved this was the catalyst for a search for a development partner from 2004 to 2016, which was unsuccessful.
Two prospective partnerships failed to progress due to the financial viability of the project, and the building’s condition continued to worsen.
Wemyss Properties were selected as a development partner in 2017 and planning permission to retain part of the façade of the church and deliver 29 flats and community facilities for the church and the wider community was achieved in 2021 (19/01408/FUL and 19/01405/LBA).
The Covid-pandemic delayed development plans over 2020-21, and in 2021 Wemyss Properties notified the Council that the roof needed to be removed as an emergency measure, with costly demolition works commencing in January 2022.
Wemyss Properties purchased the property in April 2022.
Recent condition surveys (March 2022 and June 2023) show that the building façade is now deteriorating more quickly than anticipated. Future repair work will be extensive and increasingly costly, compounded by the significant rise in construction costs and inflationary pressures.
Given this situation, Wemyss Properties has inevitably had to subject its original assumptions to rigorous tests to determine the likely costs and viability of the project. An independent development consultant has reviewed all alternative uses (e.g. student accommodation, hotel) for the site to understand if they allow retention of the building’s façade, but unfortunately, all options would generate significant financial losses. The unavoidable implication is that the demolition of the façade represents the only economically reasonable way forward.
Based on this, the intention is to progress new proposals which no longer retain the façade.
For further information about Weymss Properties, please click here.
Community Consultation
While not a statutory requirement, as a responsible developer Wemyss Properties is undertaking two public consultation events, the first of which took place on 20th June 2023. A second public consultation took place on Wednesday 20th March 2024, presenting updated proposals to the community. This responded to the key issues raised at the first consultation event, and incorporated feedback from this and other stakeholder engagement, where appropriate.
EVENT 1 FOLLOW-UP - FAQs
Following the consultation event held on Tuesday 20th June 2023 at Hillhead Library, there were two fundamental issues raised – a concern that the building is being demolished, and that the roof was removed to allow the building to deteriorate to an extent that required its demolition.
We have tried to address these issues below:
1.Why are you having to demolish the building and not retaining the façade?
By way of some background, ongoing searches between 2004 and 2016 by Hillhead Baptist Church (HBC) to find a development partner proved unsuccessful.
A number of prospective partnerships failed to progress due to the financial viability of the project.
Wemyss Properties were selected as a development partner in 2017 and a planning application to deliver 29 flats and community facilities for the church and the wider community, including retention of the façade, was submitted in May 2019. Permissions were achieved in 2021 (19/01408/FUL and 19/01405/LBA).
The Covid-pandemic delayed development plans over 2020-21, and in 2021 Wemyss Properties on behalf of HBC notified the Council that the roof needed to be removed as an emergency measure, with costly demolition works commencing in January 2022 (see point 2). Wemyss Properties purchased the property in April 2022, and immediately undertook works to remove hazards to ensure the building was safe and secure.
It is clear from the surveys undertaken that the building is deteriorating quickly, more so than anticipated since obtaining planning permission in 2021. Future repair work will be extensive and increasingly costly, compounded by the significant rise in construction costs and the inflationary situation.
Given this situation, Wemyss Properties has inevitably had to subject its original assumptions to rigorous tests to determine the likely costs and viability of the project.
An independent development consultant was commissioned to undertake an analysis of the ability to progress the current development approach – which involved façade retention – and ultimately demolishing the building was the only viable option.
Even if the building had stayed as a church, with a congregation that carefully maintained it, the fundamental problems with stone specifications and previous poor-quality repairs would have remained. Considerable investment would have been needed to pay for the type of repair that would have brought the building into good condition.
2. Why was the roof removed?
The roof of the church building was monitored by Hillhead Baptist Church (HBC) and its appointed consultants over many decades. This was to monitor movement in the roof trusses and their consequence of defects in the original construction in 1883. In 2021, HBC was made aware of a substantial deviation within the structure in the manner of a sheared roof joist.
Advice received from their consultant was to take immediate action and make the structure safe.
The building has been in poor condition for a long time. Even when it was occupied it had damaged stone masonry, with leaking parapet gutters causing rot in the roof structure.
Supporting the existing failing roof structure from within was deemed too costly, unsafe and did not address the potential for any future collapses. HBC sought Wemyss Properties’ assistance in procuring a method that would eliminate any future uncontrolled collapses.
It was determined by assisting HBC’s consultant that the safest solution would be to remove the entire roof. At no time during the controlled demolition of the roof did Wemyss Properties own the church building.
Location
Images below highlight the poor state of the building.
Consultation Boards
Please click to expand.
Contact
For further information, or if you are not able to access the consultation boards, please contact Orbit Communications at 0131 202 3259 or by email at hello@hillhead-cresswell.scot.