Brighter Barrhead Masterplan

Barrhead is changing and growing with new jobs, housing and a rail station planned, and the major Dams to Darnley project underway. To help guide this change, East Renfrewshire Council appointed a team of specialists to co-produce the Brighter Barrhead masterplan. Led by Kevin Murray Associates (KMA) with JJBLU, Nicol Urban Design, WMUD, Yellow book and Armour. Together, they worked with the people of Barrhead to create a shared vision and a masterplan for the town’s future.

This plan builds on earlier regeneration work, including the North and South Barrhead masterplans and looks to scope and co-ordinate activity and development over the next 25 years.

A central part of the Brighter Barrhead project has been collaborative engagement with a range stakeholders and the wider community, including local young people, all to ensure that this masterplan truly reflects the ambition of local people. During the engagement process around 900 people took part in in-person events, while more than 2,200 engaged online across the three stages of consultation. The resultant masterplan is one of genuine co-design, with community and professional input building cross-community capacity and a strong sense of ownership

The Brighter Barrhead masterplan looks at the whole town, from the town centre and new development areas, including land that could be better used. It covers streets, housing, parks, education, health, skills, and jobs and proposes 28 programmes, projects and interventions to improve Barrhead over time. By bringing these together in one joined-up strategy, the Masterplan seeks to guide and co-ordinate investment and development. The specific proposals have been carefully defined to be taken forward by a range of public, private and community partners.

Key proposals include:

• Enhancement of Green Networks

• Re-design of Square in front of Asda

• Main Street traffic redesign

• Dams to Darnley Visitor Facilities

• Shanks Site – Investigations, Remediation & Development

• Further improvements at Cowan Park

• Barrhead Heritage Network

• A Community Transport Strategy

These aim to improve life in Barrhead and celebrate the town’s distinctive heritage and identity, while looking to the future. The Brighter Barrhead Masterplan provides a package of aspirational, yet credible, projects which are already securing support and funding from diverse sources.