One month into the new management structure at Glasgow market and tenants are looking forward to seeing the fruit of a promised £5 million investment package.
“At the moment there are all sorts of contractors on the market looking at the offices and premises but we won’t really know more until August,” said Peter Brogan president of the tenants’ association and managing director of James McKenzie & Son (Fruit Bazaar) Ltd. “It is just business as usual for us.”
Graham Wallace, managing director of City Markets (Glasgo) LLP, the limited liability partnership company established as part of the council’s new management structure for the market, said new works will be starting imminently. “We are doing an in-depth investigation of the electricity supply to the market checking that it is all working all right with a view to possibly upgrading as the amount of power used by the market is growing year on year with greater use of chillers and computers,” said Wallace. “We are also looking at proprietary cladding for the units and re-roofing, and we are looking at the yard areas and roadways with a view to resurfacing.”
Wallace said that a design team is already at work and the projects have still to go through the council’s full planning process. “We will be trying to keep any impact on tenants to a minimum,” he explained. “That is why we are looking at proprietary cladding that is assembled off site and then can just be installed with the wall, window and insulation all in one unit.” He added that the £5m investment is for works scheduled to take up to two years, but that the City Markets (Glasgow) hopes to begin work in March.
But some traders are concerned that rather than repairing and maintaining the 1960s-built Blochairn market site, City Markets (Glasgow) should be looking at a new market for its tenants. “I think a lot of people are saying ‘thank goodness something is being done, but is it right for us or would we have been better doing something else?’” said Stuart Carmichael of J Carmichael & Co Ltd. “I was very impressed with Berlin market when I visited earlier this year, and I was hoping that we might be able to do something like that in Glasgow.”
