PLANS have been submitted for £75million redevelopment of the prominent Glasgow site vacated by collapsed retailer BHS.

The 12-storey scheme in the city centre has been billed as part of efforts to revitalise the flagging area around Sauchiehall Street and will include 130,000 sq ft of high-spec Grade A office space.

The building used for almost half a century by BHS will add new 'boutique offices' retail space.

Glasgow Times:

Once the commercial heart of the city centre, the street has suffered over the past 10 to 15 years amid predictions the exit of BHS will further its decline in fortunes.

The developers say their proposal "will see a vast visual improvement thanks to a new look for the Bhs building, with an exposed structure and industrial aesthetic".

Last year property investor Formal Investments acquired the buildings, which are also home to Mountain Warehouse. Those units, in a separate building on Sauchiehall Street, will continue to provide retail.

Glasgow architects Stallan-Brand are behind the design.

Associate Patrick Wilson said: “Formal Investment’s proposed redevelopment presents a unique opportunity to revitalise and transform the quality of the urban environment and public realm in this location, through the creation of new public spaces and improved and more appropriate mixed use activity.”

Details of the development, first revealed by The Herald last month, come as BHS closed its final stores in Scotland, disappearing from the nation's high street and ending 88 years of British retail history.

The branch at the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow is among 22 throughout the UK which closed at the weekend.

The department store's collapse in April has affected 11,000 jobs, 22,000 pensions, sparked a lengthy parliamentary inquiry and left its high-profile former owners potentially facing a criminal investigation.

The new building on Bath Street will create business offices for approximately 1,750 workers. The 80,000 sq ft of offices above BHS are aimed at creative businesses seeking units of 500 sq ft and upwards.

Formal Investments director Nicholas King said: “This proposal shows a really exciting vision for an important site in Glasgow city centre and will provide the highest quality environments for retailers and businesses large and small.”

Glasgow Times:

Shahid Ali, of property consultants JLL, said: “This proposed development will bring much needed additional office space to Glasgow whilst strengthening its retail presence, and play an important role in the regeneration of Sauchiehall Street.”

The Herald also recently revealed that the eye-sore site adjoining Charles Rennie Mackintosh's world-renowned School of Art is to be demolished in a move billed as breathing new life into the famous thoroughfare.

Plans have been lodged for a major student accommodation development further west along Sauchiehall Street, with the late-1960s block housing a former nightclub being pulled down to make way for the new scheme.