Plans for 1m sq ft of new retail and leisure floorspace have been axed from the updated masterplan for the regeneration of the ex-Ravenscraig steelworks, our Glasgow Development Plans Conference has heard.

Murray Collins, Managing Director of Fusion Estates, said the masterplan for the Lanarkshire site has been ‘just updated’ which included the removal of the retail and leisure space from the original masterplan drawn up nearly 20 years ago by planning consultants Llewellyn Davies.

Collins said: ‘’In the current market, the view is that’s not going to happen.’’

The first phase of the scheme is still being built out by housebuilders David Wilson Homes and Taylor Wimpey, while Keepmoat Homes had recently received planning consent for its portion of the site.

Fusion, and their joint venture partner J Smart and Co, have also started work on the regeneration of another former Lanarkshire steelworks at Gartcosh. The first phase will involve the construction of three speculative industrial units totalling 60,000sq ft on the back of which plans for further phases are being planning.

Collins said that Fusion, which is the arms-length regeneration company of North Lanarkshire Council, is bringing forward a further joint venture on Eurocentral ‘in the next couple of months’.

There has been interest in their 650-acre business park which has been identified as the potential site of a parkway station on the High Speed 2 line if it is extended to Scotland. The interest seems to have been sparked by the opening of a new distribution site by Lidl.

Fusion may now wait on taking forward its plans for Westfield Point in Cumbernauld due to uncertainty surrounding Brexit, with Collins saying: ‘’Our development programme is driven by the overall economy. We are anticipating hiccoughs around Brexit but if that doesn’t happen we will do more development.’’

Patrick Flynn, Head of Housing and Regeneration at Glasgow City Council, said Scotland’s biggest local authority is drawing up a new residential strategy. The strategy is due to be presented to councillors in the autumn with the authority keen to encourage high rise and build to rent development, with planners under pressure to deliver housing development by the next Scottish Parliament elections in May 2021.

The council have also identified a requirement for 2,500 hotel bedspaces in its economic strategy, with Flynn saying: ‘’The fundamentals for hotel occupancy and investment are really good.’’

Martin McKay, Executive Director for Regeneration at Clyde Gateway, told delegates that the urban regeneration company is looking at adding an extra 125 homes at the former Commonwealth village, whilst work on 563 units is also starting on site at the nearby Dalmarnock Riverside site within the Clydeside regeneration zone.

The company are also focusing on improving the Clyde Gateway’s infrastructure which includes giving their support to efforts to build a new district heat network. URC have committed £450,000 to Shark Energy, which has plans to use heat recovered from a sewerage plant for the network which will provide cheap and low carbon energy to homes and businesses in the northern part of the gateway.

Clyde Gateway are also looking at installing a combined heat and power station in Scottish Water’s waste treatment works in the south.