Friday May 22nd 2026
Springburn Winter Gardens
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Catherine Hunter
Proposals to lease Springburn Winter Gardens to a community organisation for 25 years have been approved by city councillors.
During this afternoon’s contracts and property committee meeting, members provisionally agreed for an off-market letting of the gardens to Springburn Winter Garden Trust (SWGT), through the People Make Glasgow programme.
The People Make Glasgow Communities (PMGC) programme allows local people, community groups, third sector and other organisations to express an interest in having greater involvement in the management of local venues.
Springburn Winter Gardens closed in 1983 following a huge storm, and the building has remained derelict ever since. From the storm damage it fell out of use, but was saved from planned demolition in 1985, when the structure was placed on the Statutory List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest, at category A.
In 1990 the structure was placed on the Buildings at Risk Register for Scotland. Despite various proposals for restoration, no subsequent use has been found for decades. In 2014 the condition of the winter garden was classified as a ruin at critical risk.
Springburn Winter Gardens Trust is a Scottish Charitable organisation registered in 2014 with its objectives stated as being:
Its aim is to preserve, conserve and promote, for the benefit of the general public, a category A listed building.
As a result of engaging with the PMGC programme, the Trust has been able to demonstrate through a robust funded business plan a way to bring Springburn Winter Gardens back to life and has successfully secured capital funding to bring the structure back into safe use.
During the meeting, councillor Fiona Higgins said: “I am so pleased to see this being brought back into public use and for the Trust to be using it again.
“I will be sad that it won’t have the same structural properties that it did have but we still have saved a lot realistically on what we could have done.
“Thanks for bringing this back into use so that the whole city can enjoy it.”
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