Campaign to replace decaying People Make Glasgow sign in city centre before Commonwealth Games
Ahead of the Commonwealth Games this summer, a campaign is calling for a new message to the world to replace the fading remnants of the sign looming over the city centre.
The Met Tower looms over George Square, a tombstone of a building that remains a prominent city centre landmark. A giant pink and white vinyl graphic was installed by the city council as part of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the city. People Make Glasgow it said. The sign became a much photographed feature, then was left to rot.
In 2020, planners approved a £100million office and hotel development at the former City of Glasgow College campus. Developers Osborne and Co were given permission to turn the 14-storey Met Tower into offices and build a 264-bed hotel. That plan failed to happen and Bruntwood SciTech acquired the building in 2022 announcing their own vision for the building as a digital business and technology hub.
There was a further change of direction last year, when Vita Group acquired one of Glasgow’s most prominent landmarks with plans to introduce its Union co-living concept to Scotland for the first time. The former college building has been vacant for over a decade.
While that project moves through the planning stage, the building with its fading sign remains unchanged. With the Commonwealth Games returning to the city in 2026, creative agency founder Andrew Dobbie has launched a petition, currently approaching 3000 signatures, to update the appearance of the building.
He says: “If you’ve ever arrived into Queen Street Station, you know the building. It looms large over George Square, impossible to miss, and for years it proudly carried the People Make Glasgow banner—a slogan that became part of our city’s identity during the 2014 Games.
“But time moves on. That vinyl has faded. It’s peeling. And as the city transforms, it’s high time to asked ourselves – what message do we want to share with the world now?
“From transforming George Square with the UK’s largest-ever ‘bus in a box’ installation for First Bus, to lighting up the night sky with a light projection mapping animation with Smug’s Keeper of Light, we’ve always believed in the power of creativity to change the world.
“The Met Tower is more than a building. It’s a greeting. And ahead of the Games, we’ve got a real chance to make that greeting bold, welcoming and unforgettable.”
You can read more about the campaign and sign the petition here.
The Met Tower was the main building of the former Glasgow Metropolitan College. It originally opened in 1964 as the Stow College of Building, and for most of its life has been known as the Glasgow College of Building and Printing.
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