Glasgow City Mission

Elder and Cannon Architects’ building replaces the Mission’s single-storey predecessor on a new site at the corner of Crimea and Brown Streets. This area, known as the Broomielaw, once teemed with warehouses and is characterized by long streets that run down to the Clyde.

The building responds to its context with industrial materials; a robust steel frame clad in blue brindled brick continues the tone and texture of the historic warehouses. In elevation each floor is defined by a double soldier course and brick reveals deep enough to convey a sense of solidity, mirroring the historic buildings that make up Glasgow’s Victorian street grid.

Set over five stories, the Mission’s programme includes art spaces, a gymnasium and meeting rooms for worship, all anchored by a double-height, light-filled café at ground floor level. This is mirrored by a double-height roof-top colonnade providing an outdoor terrace and concealing spaces for storage and services.

Glasgow City Mission was founded in 1826 by David Nasmith as a non-denominational safe house for poor, vulnerable and homeless people.