Places · Scotland · Glasgow
Façade & building consultants in Glasgow.
From a medieval cathedral and sandstone tenements to cast-iron warehouses and new riverside towers, Glasgow's buildings span more than eight centuries. McKay Turner Consulting provides façade condition surveys, defect and water ingress investigations, external wall fire risk appraisals and EWS1 assessments across the city.
GLASGOW 55.8611° N, 4.2503° W
A short history
A merchant city, built in sandstone
Glasgow grew from a cathedral town into one of the "Second Cities of the Empire". Trade and industry paid for the stone streets, warehouses and tenements that still shape the city today.
- 1197
A cathedral city
The present cathedral is consecrated. It is one of only two medieval cathedrals in Scotland to survive the Reformation virtually intact.
- 1451
A university
A papal bull founds the University of Glasgow, now the second oldest in Scotland.
- 1760
The tobacco trade
Merchants trading with the American colonies make Glasgow Britain's main tobacco port, overtaking London.
- 1856
Iron fronts
Gardner's Warehouse on Jamaica Street is built with a cast-iron façade and columns. It is now Category A listed.
- 1889
Red sandstone arrives
The Evening Citizen offices at St Vincent Place are completed, the city's first red sandstone building. Red stone from Dumfriesshire soon arrives by rail in bulk.
- 1909
The Mack
Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art is completed. Fires in 2014 and 2018 left only a burnt-out shell.
- 1964
High-rise homes
Four 74m towers at Springburn are finished during the slum clearance years. They are still among the city's tallest homes.
- 2026
Taller again
The 36-storey Ard student tower is rising at Blythswood Hill, set to become the city's tallest building at 114m.
Architecture
What makes Glasgow's buildings distinctive
Daniel Defoe called Glasgow "the cleanest and beautifullest, and best built city in Britain, London excepted". Today its sandstone streets mix Victorian offices, tenements, post-war towers and new glass.
Key styles
Medieval Gothic
Glasgow Cathedral, largely rebuilt in the 13th century. Its central tower and spire were added in the early 1400s.
Sandstone tenements
Flats faced in polished stone, blond before about 1890 and red after. Hyndland is almost entirely four-storey tenements built between 1898 and 1910.
Victorian commercial
Cast-iron warehouse fronts such as Gardner's (1856), and the Venetian Gothic of Templeton's carpet factory (1892), modelled on the Doge's Palace.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art was designed from 1896 and built in two halves, finished in 1899 and 1909.
Post-war high-rise
Hundreds of concrete tower blocks replaced slum housing, and the 75m Met Tower (1964) was built for education.
Contemporary
The 127m Glasgow Tower (2001) at the Science Centre, and new student and rental towers rising around Anderston and the Clyde.
The city's material palette
Did you know?
Early stone came from local quarries such as Giffnock. After about 1890, red sandstone arrived by rail from Dumfriesshire, so a building's colour often hints at its age.
In 1889 the half-built façade of Templeton's carpet factory collapsed in high wind because of insecure fixings, killing 29 women in the weaving sheds next door.
The University of Glasgow's tower, finished in 1887 at 85m, is still the city's tallest building. The Ard will overtake it when complete.
Typical building types
What Glasgow is built of today
Victorian and Edwardian tenements sit alongside post-war tower blocks, a commercial city centre and fast-growing student and rental housing.
Sandstone tenements
Victorian and Edwardian flats with shared roofs, stairs and stone façades.
Where: Hyndland, Dennistoun, Govanhill
Commercial offices
Victorian stone office blocks alongside newer glass offices near the river.
Where: Blythswood, St Vincent Street, Broomielaw
Purpose-built student
A fast-growing sector, with several new student towers under way in the centre.
Where: Anderston, Sauchiehall Street, Blythswood Hill
Build to rent
Professionally managed rental blocks, a newer and growing part of the market.
Where: Anderston Quay, High Street
Post-war tower blocks
1960s high-rise homes from the slum clearance years, many over 70m tall.
Where: Springburn, Townhead
Retail & mixed use
Shops at street level with offices or flats above, many in older buildings.
Where: Buchanan Street, Sauchiehall Street, Argyle Street
Heritage & civic
Listed civic, religious and university buildings that need specialist care.
Where: George Square, Cathedral Precinct, Gilmorehill
Leisure & venues
Large venues and attractions by the Clyde, with big roofs and complex façades.
Where: Finnieston, Pacific Quay, Glasgow Green
Current construction trends
Where Glasgow is building now
Student towers, rental homes and a revamped shopping centre lead new building, while owners work through cladding checks.
The Ard, Blythswood Hill
Watkin Jones's 36-storey student tower reuses part of the old Portcullis House concrete frame. It is set to become Glasgow's tallest building.
City Wharf, Anderston Quay
Dandara Living's scheme will bring around 500 rental homes and 490 student beds, with an 87m tower. Full opening is expected in 2027.
College Gardens, High Street
Plans for 713 build-to-rent flats and 999 student beds on the former College Street goods yard were approved in August 2025.
Buchanan Galleries
Landsec's revamp of the shopping centre was approved in late 2025, with phased works due to start in the second half of 2026.
Cladding remediation
Single Building Assessments under the Housing (Cladding Remediation) (Scotland) Act 2024 check the risk from cladding on flats. By June 2026, funding had been provided or offered for 526 buildings in Scotland.
More student towers
Vita on India Street and 184 Sauchiehall Street are under construction, with further student towers approved at Anderston Quay and in the city centre.
How we help in Glasgow
Every era of building has its own risks
We match our inspections and advice to the age and construction of your building.
Georgian, Victorian & Edwardian stone, brick and terracottac.1750–1930
Weathered stone, failed pointing and mortar, corroding iron fixings and water ingress through older details.
Post-war concrete and system buildsc.1950–1990
Spalling concrete, corroded reinforcement, ageing windows and poor thermal performance.
Curtain walls, rainscreen and high-rise residentialc.1990–2018
Leaking seals and gaskets, combustible cladding and insulation, and missing cavity barriers.
New build and conversionstoday
Design and specification gaps, workmanship defects and building standards compliance.
One Crown Place, London: a peer-reviewed PAS 9980 FRAEW and EWS1 A1 for a 100m+ tower, delivered in five working days.
Read the case study →FAQs
Façade services in Glasgow
Do you carry out cladding and EWS1 assessments in Glasgow?
Yes. We carry out fire risk appraisals of external walls and EWS1 assessments, which some lenders still ask for, on residential and student buildings across Glasgow. We can also help owners and factors through the Scottish Government's Cladding Remediation Programme and its Single Building Assessments.
How quickly can you respond to an enquiry in Glasgow?
We work across Glasgow and the west of Scotland. We aim to respond to new enquiries within one working day, and we arrange site visits and access to suit your programme.
Can you survey sandstone tenements?
Yes. We inspect blond and red sandstone façades, slate roofs and cast-iron details, and recommend repairs that suit the building's age and construction. Our reports help owners and factors plan shared repairs.
Which other services do you offer in Glasgow?
Technical due diligence, defect and water ingress investigations, thermographic surveys, specification and tender, development monitoring, remediation project management and expert witness services.
Work with us
Own or manage a building in Glasgow?
We provide façade condition surveys, defect investigations, external wall assessments and EWS1 forms, and manage remediation across Glasgow and Scotland.
Photographs: Michael D Beckwith and Adam Marikar on Unsplash.