New Campaign is Rallying Cry for City Centre

A new campaign that represents a rallying cry for Glasgow city centre has been unveiled at a launch event for hundreds of city business people. 

The ‘Get You In Town’ campaign is a reminder of what’s good about the city centre and how it is a natural meeting place for people all over the Glasgow area. It will be backed by a run of media advertising later this year and will be displayed all across the city.

Led by the City Centre Taskforce, a partnership between Glasgow City Council and the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, the campaign has been developed in association with the award winning, Glasgow-based design agency, Bright Signals. The campaign is intended to support the on-going work to transform the city centre by growing the resident population, improving transport links and making public spaces more attractive for walking, wheeling and cycling.

At the launch event in the Royal Concert Hall, attendees heard updates from Glasgow City Council and the Chamber of Commerce highlighting the resilience of the city centre following the impact of the covid pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. 

Councillor Angus Millar, City Convener for City Centre Recovery, highlighted the investment being made in the city centre and backed ‘Get You In Town’ to succeed as a campaign. He said: 

No-one should be in any doubt the city centre is a top priority for the council. 

As difficult as it’s been in recent years, I genuinely believe that a corner has been turned. Transformation of the city centre is taking shape and improvements are gathering pace. Our major investment in cleansing services will also make a big difference in the months ahead. 

Partnerships have been key to Glasgow’s successes in recent years and the cross-sectoral City Centre Taskforce will continue to be crucial in future. We know the council can’t do this alone. 

It’s in all our interests to get behind Glasgow city centre and I’m certain Glaswegians will respond positively to our call to Get You in Town. 

Stuart Patrick, Chief Executive of the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, highlighted the on-going work to create more attractive, welcoming spaces in the city centre and called upon all sectors to work together for the good of the city. He said:

It’s a positive time for Glasgow and this Chamber is proud to be at the centre of it. Our city centre is pivotal to our future success as it’s our economic heart and our cultural home. 

The challenges we have faced remind us we must act always cohesively and boldly and the City Centre Taskforce ensures a unified effort focused on recovery and growth. 

We are seeing improvements in visitor numbers and consumer spend with millions already invested and billions more in the pipeline. We are also deliberately designing our city centre for people by creating welcoming spaces where people want to live, visit and invest. 

There is a vision for the city centre and it is one where if we all work together as Team Glasgow we will get the results that we want.

Some of the recent investment in the city centre include:

• Improvements to the look, feel and the investability of the city centre.
• The long-awaited redevelopment of George Square - our key public space and the very heart of Glasgow – is well underway.
• The Avenues project: a £120million transformation of key city centre streets into modern thoroughfares with people-friendly spaces, improved walking, cycling and wheeling, and more greenery.
• Pitt Street and Holland Street, the first Avenues to be fully completed and, alongside the private sector investment in new housing, has had such a positive impact on an entire city centre district.
• £7 million investment into cleansing services including 200+ new staff have been recruited, trained and will soon be ready to take to the streets – including new nightshift teams who will blitz our highest-footfall areas overnight.
• £4million invested in facilitating new uses for vacant properties and ensuring a quick response to small-scale but high impact issues highlighted by businesses.

The momentum can clearly be seen at key sites across the city centre as development is underway or completed at significant sites across the city centre.

• Marks and Spencer building on Sauchiehall Street
• Holland Park (433 BTR units by Moda)
• JP Morgan HQ on Argyle Street
• Candleriggs Square and the Social Hub on Trongate