Architects hired for £2.5m retrofit of Glasgow Pipe Factory

Scotland-based Architects, O’DonellBrown have been hired to overhaul a former pipe factory in Glasgow, turning it into a hub for aspiring small businesses.  

Plans were announced yesterday that a former pipe factory in Glasgow, which was built in the 1870s, is set to be converted into a community facility. 

Friends of the Pipe Factory, which owns the 19^th century brick building, have claimed they want to devote the establishment to young people from different backgrounds, the local community more widely, and artists, architects, and designers in the early stages of their careers.

In the company’s vision, the B-listed building in the Barras area of the city will feature a ‘creative hub’, office space for small businesses, and flexible, accessible public space.

O’DonellBrown will manage the planning application, design the retrofit scheme, and oversee the building work. Local practice Loader Monteith will serve as conservation architect on the project.

In addition to the new regeneration scheme helping small businesses during these difficult financial times, the work on the building will also help the environment. Whilst working on the establishment, amends will include repairing the building’s fabric and features, making it fully accessible, putting in insulation and improving energy efficiency, installing low-carbon heating system, and overhauling the services.

Reasons for converting the former factory into a hub for small businesses and creators are that the factory hasn’t been used for its original purpose since 1955 as it fell into disrepair. Since 2015, it has been used for exhibitions and events, and as artists’ studios.

The fact O’DonellBrown have been chosen for this project comes as a great honour, as Friends of the Pipe Factory selected the practice ahead of shortlisted forms Simpson & Brown Architects, Hoskins Architects and Collective Architecture following a competition last year.

Practice director of O’DonellBrown, Sam Brown, said: ‘The Pipe Factory project embodies all that is good about how retrofit schemes can and should be taken forward where possible.

‘We are delighted to have been selected for what is a very important project for the continued regeneration of the Barras area of Glasgow. It also presents an opportunity to deliver an exemplar scheme, providing a template for future similar retrofit projects.’

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