The Hielanman’s Umbrella regeneration project has been shelved by Network Rail after a funding review, leaving Glasgow’s historic covered street corridor without the overhaul that had been planned for this summer. The £400,000 scheme, designed to bring more light, colour and improved pedestrian conditions beneath Central Station’s glass-walled bridge along Argyle Street, is now described by Network Rail as ‘currently paused’.
A Network Rail Scotland spokesperson said: ‘Following a review, the original proposal for Hielanman’s Umbrella is currently paused. We remain in regular dialogue with Glasgow City Council and are exploring opportunities to take forward design and public realm elements in a future funding period.’ The statement added that improvement works are ongoing, including upgraded lighting, enhanced cleaning and maintenance, and efforts to bring new tenants into vacant properties, with the organisation saying it ‘recognises the site’s cultural significance.’
A design that would have transformed the undercroft
The practice BBC reported as having been commissioned in 2024 to create a fresh design for the site was Dress for the Weather, whose scheme would have introduced multi-coloured shops and neon lights beneath the bridge. The area covered by the project includes a small number of shops and venues beneath the bridge, among them the former Arches nightclub, giving the space a layered cultural history that stretches well beyond its function as a pedestrian route.
Dress for the Weather won the £50,000 design commission following a Glasgow City Council competition in 2023. The team included local landscape architect Gross.Max, architect Fiona Sinclair, Toby Paterson and Nich Smith Lighting Design, alongside a wider advisory group including Gaelic Glasgow, Rachel E Millar, Civic Engineers, Hollis Global, and Healthy. Plans were submitted and work was due to begin this summer, with ‘soft’ interventions proposed to address what the design team described as an ‘uninviting and unsafe’ route through new surfaces, signage, colour and lighting.
Andy Campbell, co-founder of Dress for the Weather, has expressed clear frustration at the outcome. ‘We’re really disappointed that the project hasn’t been delivered since we handed it over,’ he said. The commission ran only to RIBA Stage 4, meaning the practice was never responsible for delivery, but Campbell made clear the team’s investment in the project ran deeper than the formal scope. ‘The design team were incredible to work alongside, people we have admired for a long time and have always wanted to collaborate with.’
The Hielanman’s Umbrella regeneration project and the wider Union Street context
The pause on the project comes against a backdrop of broader upheaval in the Central Station area. A fire on Union Street Corner last March caused the partial collapse of Forsyth House, a 19th-century B-listed building designed by James Brown of Brown and Carrick in 1851 for Francis Orr and Sons, which has since been demolished for safety reasons. Glasgow City Council has now stated it will reconsider the future of the Hielanman’s Umbrella as part of a Central Station Area Study prompted by that fire.
A council spokesperson said: ‘As part of the Central Station Area Study which was prompted by the recent major fire on Union Street in Glasgow, we will be reconsidering the future of the Hielanman’s Umbrella within that wider work.’ Last month, the council appointed O’DonnellBrown to design a meanwhile-use scheme for the Union Street Corner site while longer-term plans are considered. In June, local practices including New Practice and Collective presented concepts for restoring that site at an event held at the University of Glasgow.
Campbell’s commentary carries a broader challenge to the city’s institutions. ‘Everyone is looking at Glasgow, and we need to get better at retaining and delivering these important cultural projects,’ he said, placing the Hielanman’s Umbrella alongside projects at the Glasgow School of Art, the Centre for Contemporary Art, and Egyptian Halls as sites that define the city’s built character. ‘It is an important, strange and special place that is very particular to Glasgow. It deserves some love.’
Should Network Rail and Glasgow City Council choose to restart the scheme, Dress for the Weather has said it would welcome the opportunity to pick up where the work left off.
