The long-redundant St Peter’s Seminary is well-known to golfers at Cardross Golf Club. Over the years they have watched its grandeur decline as vegetation, vandalism and the vagaries of the weather have taken their toll. The building is now in a ruinous condition but this massive concrete shell is on the A list.
It was designed by Isi Metzstein and Andy McMillan of Gillespie, Kidd and Coia and its modular concrete structure is considered to be a good example of collegiate buildings of the 1960s. The Archbishop of Glasgow commissioned its building in 1958 and it served its time as a teaching college for the Roman Catholic church before being closed in 1980.
One suggestion has been to make it a stabilised and protected ruin – it would have no roof and would merely be a shell.
CRGP has been engaged as quantity surveyors and cost consultants by developers Classical House who have submitted a planning application on behalf of the Diocese of Glasgow. The plans are to create a 28- unit housing development within the grounds of the Seminary and options with the building include stabilising it for future development or restoring a small section of the residential block to its original state.
“The problems around St Peter’s Seminary, its restoration or development have been the subject of numerous consultations over the past years,” says Bob Turnbull, a director of CRGP. “We have worked closely with Classical House on many previous projects and if any company can find a solution, this company will as they are the undisputed experts in this field.”
