by Stewart Paterson© The Herald
Originally published: 01.04.2008

A waterfront housing development on a former industrial site is to be expanded to accommodate several hundred more homes.

John Brown's shipyard in Clydebank is to be transformed from a derelict wasteground, where once the most famous ships in the world were built, to a new community with homes, leisure, shops and offices.

Clydeside Regeneration Ltd and FM Development have cut back on the amount of retail space for the site, following a re-evaluation of demand and location, and will instead build 1600 homes, 400 more than originally planned.

The site will be called Queens' Quay after the famous Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth ships built and launched at John Brown's when it was at the height of its productivity last century.

Residential properties ranging from tenement-style flats to townhouses will extend Clydebank down towards the River Clyde, where Clydebank College has been built and the former shipyard's crane turned into a visitor attraction Developers have now asked West Dunbartonshire Council to lift a number of constraints on planning approval, including the cap of 1200 homes.

A report to councillors being considered today states: "When the outline application was determined it was considered that the inclusion of a major retail development on the site was not desirable and as a result the development which is now proposed includes a higher proportion of residential developments than was originally planned."

The retail element of the proposal will be small scale shops and cafes, not in competition with the larger Clydebank Shopping Centre nearby, as there is believed to be plans for a larger food store in the town centre removing the need for a major outlet in the shipyard site.

A spokeswoman for FM Developments said: "It was previously envisaged that the site might include a food store and more commercial space as is now intended.

"Design guidelines require us to provide an appropriate urban environment and to achieve this, the housing required has to be provided at a relatively high density.

"In essence the proposed increase in housing numbers is balanced by the reduction in commercial uses."