THERE a number of vacant sites situated underneath the Kingston Bridge and towards Finnieston.

The land, at Cheapside Street and Warroch Street, currently used as a car park, was set for a £180 million makeover in 2007, when it was renamed City Wharf.

It was formerly occupied by a council-run homeless hostel, a pub and a number of warehouses.

Owned by housebuilder Dandara, the development is currently listed as "on hold" on the Clyde Waterfront website.

Land immediately to the west of this, between Warroch Street and Whitehall Street — the site of the former Daily Record building — is owned by developer Goodman.

In 2007, planning permission was granted on this site for a £90 million offices and a hotel project, called the Central Quay Business Park.

Niall McGilp, regional development director for Goodman in Scotland, said: "The level of commercial property activity in Glasgow has not yet returned to pre-2008 levels but there are a number of notable developments ongoing or about to start in the city, which signal a growing confidence in the market.

"Our proposals for further development at Central Quay Business Park are progressing and a planning application for the site was submitted to Glasgow City Council last week."

Scottish Enterprise (SE) owns two sites along the Broomielaw, near the city centre.

One of these, on the site adjacent to Crimea and Carrick Street, is leased, under the Stalled Spaces initiative, to the Blyth-Spirit Garden Group.

SE's Business Infrastructure Director, Allan McQuade, said: "It's fair to say a number of development sites are stalled in the city.

"But what we're doing with the two sites we own, is that we've tidied them up and put fencing around them.

"The other thing which we've done is on one of the sites, we've agreed for the site to be used as temporary allotments.

"We do take care of our sites and are being proactive on temporary use."

But Nina Baker, a Green Party councillor, believes more could be done to make better use of the land in the area.

She said: "It is so irritating that we waste land in this way. I think there's a lot more that we could do – the private sector is not stepping up to the plate.

"Scottish Enterprise are one of the worst at maintaining their land in a positive manner.

"They have resisted the stalled spaces initiative until really pushed by the council, and eventually they have yielded.

"Put grass or meadows, or whatever they wanted, so instead of looking at a derelict site, you were looking at temporary, privately owned, but publicly available, green space."

Dandara declined to comment when asked for an update about the City Wharf development.

GLASGOW has more than 900 derelict and vacant sites, an area approximate in size to nearly 1150 football pitches.

A nationwide survey released this year has given up to date figures of gap sites across Scotland in 2012, and Glasgow has the most compared with every other local authority in the country.

In terms of the total area of these sites, it is third, behind North Ayrshire and North Lanarkshire.

But the situation for Glasgow is looking up, with the number of vacant and derelict sites decreasing by 4% over the last six years. And Glasgow has the largest number of sites by area which have been bought back in use by a mixture of public and private spending.

Glasgow City Council has even set up a 'Stalled Space' initiative to focus on the temporary use of vacant land, under-used open spaces and sites earmarked for development, but have stalled.

The initiative has led to over 22 hectares of land being brought back into temporary use across the city.

Many of these sites may have plans for future development, however there can be delays anywhere from one to over ten years until development is scheduled to begin.

The Evening Times has turned the spotlight on two areas with derelict or vacant sites, and what the future holds for them.

CITY WHARF:

DALMARNOCK:

in the Dalmarnock area of the city, there is a cluster of vacant and derelict land around French Street, which once housed a gasworks.

Urban regeneration company Clyde Gateway has worked extensively in an area covering 840 hectares across the East End of Glasgow, including Bridgeton and Dalmarnock and Rutherglen and Shawfield in South Lanarkshire.

Working with Glasgow and South Lanarkshire councils and Scottish Enterprise, Clyde Gateway was established in 2007 to drive forward a massive 20-year investment programme.

It has been involved in the five-mile extension to the M74 motorway, and the construction of the East End Regeneration Route, linking the M8 and extended M74.

The 2014 Athletes' Village will be also be located within Clyde Gateway area. Post-Games it will become a new waterfront neighbourhood.

Ian Manson, Chief Executive of Clyde Gateway, said: "A lot of what was previously vacant, derelict and often contaminated land in and around Bridgeton and Dalmarnock has gradually been brought back into use thanks to considerable investment from Clyde Gateway and Glasgow City Council.

"The new housing, offices and other developments that have emerged out of the ground have changed dramatically the look of the communities and helped bring back a feel-good factor among local people that has been missing for a while.

"There's also considerable activity currently underway on other sites, such as the former gasworks and power station sites that will see the changes and improvements will be continuing for years to come."

Clyde Gateway is working with partners to create a new £25 million office development on French Street that will eventually become a new base for Police Scotland.

The four-acre site could become Scotland's new national police HQ. The Scottish Police Authority will officially decide where to base the HQ in the next few months.

Dalmarnock railway station will soon undergo an extensive refurbishment that will be completed in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

A £4m pedestrian bridge will also be built to link Dalmarnock in Glasgow with Shawfield in South Lanarkshire.

Councillor George Redmond said: "We've got development taking place, we're cleaning up woodland and really bringing it up to public use.

"They've cut the whole place back and spent a lot of time and energy in there, so this shows what can be done with existing resources.

"It's a good example of what you can do with a site which has got run down, which is in poor condition – restore it and bring it back to use so that people can use it for a number of things.

"Things are looking positive for that area."