Greenock's Glebe sugar store would gain a glazed rooftop floor under community hub plans

Greenock's Glebe Sugarhouse would gain a new glazed top floor under plans to turn the listed sugar warehouse on Ker Street into a community learning hub.

Creative Regeneration, the charity that bought the building in April 2026, lodged a revised full planning application with Inverclyde Council on 9 September 2026, reference 26/0168/IC. It replaces an application lodged in June and withdrawn the same day the new one went in. A separate listed building consent application, 26/0012/LB, is still pending. The building is listed at Category B, although the council register describes it as Category A.

Five floors and a new one on top

The operational statement sets out a use for every level, each of about 250 square metres:

The application form gives a gross floorspace of 1,830 square metres. The new top floor would be a glazed extension stepped back from the existing parapet, with a solar panel array concealed behind a parapet. A two-storey rear extension would hold plant, bins and a secure entrance. The drawings do not give the new height in figures.

The applicant's own heritage assessment

The heritage impact assessment for the scheme rates the change to the roofscape as a "Major change" with a "Moderate / Large Impact". It rates the effect on the principal facades as slight and concludes that the overall effect is "overwhelmingly positive".

According to the assessment, housing between Crawfurd Street and Ker Street was cleared in 1919 and 1920 for the building, which opened in 1920 as a raw sugar store. A steel bridge over Ker Street carried a moving belt for bags of sugar to the refinery, and the rest of the Glebe complex was demolished in the 1960s.

The design and access statement describes the building as in a poor state of disrepair, with significant water getting in on the top floor. It says the windows cannot be saved. Asbestos in the roof asphalt would be encapsulated. A later stair enclosure, a steel escape stair, a goods lift, a raised loading dock and a rooftop hoist room would be removed.

A square on the line of Boyd Street

The plans include a public square on council-owned land at the front of the building. It would reinstate the surface of Boyd Street, a street shown on the 1857 Ordnance Survey map, with brick setts. Benches would refer to the keel blocks used in ship launches, and question-mark cycle stands inspired by George Wyllie are under discussion with The Wyllieum.

The transport plan proposes five parking spaces: four in the council-owned area at the front and a large accessible space within the site for minibus drop-offs and deliveries. It proposes a 20-space secure cycle store and eight cycle stands in the square, although the design statement refers elsewhere to 60 secure cycle spaces.

The hub would open from 8am to 9pm with one full-time building manager. The operational statement allows for up to 50 young people aged 12 to 18 on the activity floors and 50 visitors, which it says is not a regular occupation level.

Comments so far

When checked on 29 September 2026, the council register showed 148 public comments on the application, all in support and none objecting. Historic Environment Scotland was consulted on 16 September along with environmental health, the Health and Safety Executive, Scottish Water and the roads team. The register showed one consultee response but did not publish which. The consultation period runs until 16 October.

The Greenock Telegraph reported the revised application on 15 September. The details above come from the submitted documents. See application 26/0168/IC on PlanIndex and the listed building consent application 26/0012/LB.