Plans have been submitted for the £220m regeneration of Glasgow's Sighthill area, the Evening Standard has reported.

The announcement comes just days after the council failed in its bit to host the 2018 Youth Olympic Games.

Sighthill had been selected to be the site of the Athletes' Village for the event.

However, Council Leader Gordon Matheson has said work will continue despite the decision from the International Olympic Committee, with plans now submitted to council planners.

The work was initially fast-tracked as part of the Youth Olympics bid and it is hoped this will allow the ambitious regeneration project to be finished by 2018, when the Games are scheduled to begin.

The project will see the creation of 650 new homes in low-rise apartment blocks, with a mix of tenures, which will be built by a private developer on the site of the old Pinkston flats and the existing Sighthill Park. There will also be a further 141 homes for social rent, built by Glasgow Housing Association on the site of the already demolished Fountainwell multi-storeys.


Other work will include:

A new school campus with community and sports facilities.

A new bridge over the M8 at the south west of the development, providing better pedestrian links to the city centre.

A network of green spaces to link the area to the city centre.

Land remediation and upgrading at Sighthill Park.

A new park and landscaping work.

New local shops.

Student accommodation, with around 500 beds, will also be constructed, along with a new road bridge at the north west of the site, as well as new roads, parking, infrastructure and new public spaces. In the hope of attracting a private developer, land will also be allocated for a new hotel, while the council will create a high quality park for the use of local people.

Sighthill is one of eight priority regeneration areas in the city, know as Transformation Regeneration Areas and the proposed work will result in the local population more than doubling, from the present 1,100 residents to more than 3,000.

Mr Matheson added: "The plans are tremendously exciting and bring forward the transformation of the area by 20 years.

"While we are disappointed by the Youth Olympic Games decision, one legacy of our fantastic bid will be the creation of a very attractive place in which to live, work and study.

"The regeneration of Sighthill will continue our work to unlock the massive potential of the north side of the city centre."

(JP/MH)