The Ard will help address the serious shortage of student accommodation in Glasgow, where there are currently three students vying for every purpose-built room available. At 36 storeys high, it will provide 784 beds in a mix of en-suite clusters and individual studio units plus nearly 4,000m² of student amenities and commercial and office uses at ground floor level facing India Street.

Glasgow Social Enterprise Network will occupy a ground floor unit and work closely with the City’s universities, creating opportunities for social enterprises to connect with each other  – to learn, share and grow.

Large communal and amenity spaces, both inside and out will help generate a real sense of community within the development. Games and screen rooms, a yoga and spin studio, and a gym will sit alongside a social kitchen and art studio. There’ll be a café to the north, adjacent to the station, and outdoor amenities at ground, mid and roof top level, creating a new buzz about the place. The sky lounge on the 36th floor will offer panoramic views across the city.

At street level, the landscaping will include substantial planting and pockets of breakout space, extending the city’s green network. There will be wider footways, reduced on-street parking and priority given to cyclists and pedestrians. Natural surveillance in the ground-level public realm will help everyone feel safe and secure. There will be storage for 390 bicycles at the basement level.

The building will also be a catalyst for improvements to this part of the Glasgow City Centre, an opportunity to create an urban block with mixed-use developments, high-quality public realm, and new pedestrian routes to an updated Charing Cross Station and other parts of the city centre.

To lower the embodied carbon of the proposed development, the lower tail element of the building that extends south towards Scottish Power, will comprise the retained concrete frame of the previous building on the site, Portcullis House.

The Ard is within easy walking or cycling distance of a number of higher and further education establishments within the city.