Glover Street redevelopment

This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a vibrant, inclusive neighbourhood that meets local housing needs and supports some of our most vulnerable citizens.

What's changing and why

Perth faces a significant shortage of affordable homes, with nearly 800 applications for city-centre accommodation.

The Glover Street project reflects our commitment to social care and our pledge to protect and care for our most vulnerable people.

For decades, Glover Street has been home to Perth Leisure Pool but this facility is ageing, costly to maintain, and increasingly at risk of failure.

As the Council has now agreed to create a new leisure centre on Thimblerow in Perth city centre, ensuring a modern, energy-efficient facility, there is now scope to redevelop Glover Street in order to provide greater affordable housing and specialist care provision.

Our vision for Glover Street

• Affordable homes: new affordable homes, to help address the high demand for city-centre housing.
• Inclusive care: a new home for Capability Scotland's Our Inclusive Community Project, supporting 60 residents with complex needs to remain in Perth, close to family and support networks.
• Integrated design: a single masterplan to ensure safe access, surface water flood mitigation, and shared infrastructure for housing and care facilities.

Public information drop-in sessions

We want people to help shape the future of the Glover Street site and contribute to the creation of a vibrant, inclusive neighbourhood that meets local housing needs and supports some of our most vulnerable citizens.

A public information drop-in session about the project was held on 18 February 2026  to gather feedback on the proposals. 

A follow-up event was then held on 11 March 2026 where people could view updated proposals taking previous feedback into account.

Council officers, Capability Scotland representatives, Anderson Bell Christie architects and the wider design team were available at both events.

The information boards that were on display at the 18 February event (PDF, 32 MB) and updated information boards from the 11 March event (PDF, 170 MB) are available to view. 

Provide feedback

You can provide feedback on the proposals using our Consultation Hub before 18 March 2026.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the background to this proposal?

On 18 June 2025, Perth and Kinross Council agreed to finalise the strategic approach to Leisure assets in the Perth City Integrated investment proposals. These had been created following a review of all Leisure Assets in Perth and Kinross. Following this review, Council agreed leisure assets in Perth should be consolidated into a single site.  Plans for this to be created on Thimblerow were agreed in September 2025. Creating a new facility is more affordable than redeveloping the current Perth Leisure Pool and also ensures swimming in Perth can continue while the new building is under construction.

Officers were then authorised to progress future use of Glover Street site which currently houses Dewars Centre and Perth Leisure Pool.

As part of the Council's commitment to the Strategic Priority of Protecting and Caring for our most vulnerable people, it be agreed in principle to allocate part of the Glover Street site to Capability Scotland to enable them to relocate their services and homes for 60 residents from their current site at Upper Springland.

Will I still be able to access Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars Centre while work is underway on Phase 1?

Yes. Both facilities will remain open to the public. One of the advantages of the Thimblerow site is that it allows Perth Leisure Pool to stay open until the new facility opens, ensuring there is no disruption to swimming availability and provision in Perth city.

What will be built on the site?

The Glover Street development will combine modern living spaces with access to integrated support, social activities, and opportunities for greater independence - creating a model that reflects the best of inclusive design and community thinking.

The first phase of the project will see the development of Capability Scotland's Our Inclusive Community Project, which will support 60 residents with complex needs to remain in Perth close to family, services and support networks. It will also support a further 40 adults to access day opportunity services.

Phase 2 will deliver approximately 100 high-quality affordable homes, along with communal and private green spaces. Public open areas will include 'play on the way' features with play equipment designed for children and families. 

Why does the Our Inclusive Community Project need to move from its current site at Upper Springland?

The facility at Upper Springland is aging and struggling to support 21st century living. The facilities no longer meet the evolving needs of the disabled young people and adults Capability Scotland support. In addition, recent flooding of the site, and flood risk assessments showing a significantly increased risk of flooding. You can read more on the Capability Scotland website.

Why did the Our Inclusive Community Project not proceed at Bertha Park?

Increased costs and logistical challenges made that site unviable, so Capability Scotland began searching for alternative sites in Perth. A Memorandum of Understanding between Capability Scotland and Perth and Kinross Council to redevelop the Glover Street site was signed last year.

What is the flooding risk on the site?

The Glover Street site has been identified within the Perth City Surface Water Management Plan, but the known flooding risk will be mitigated as part of the phased development.

Drainage and flooding assessments have been undertaken to ensure that the future developments on the site do not have any inherent risks.

What is going to happen with Dewars Centre?

Council officers are continuing to work closely with the Curling community to inform a sustainable business model for a community-run facility.

Will new play areas be included as part of the development to replace the park?

The park was established to complement the leisure pool. As the new proposals will make this a residential area, a different kind of greenspace will be required. The new site will look to establish a corridor of natural landscaping and more informal space to build on the pedestrian thoroughfare.

What stage is the project currently at?

The masterplan incorporates the overall strategy for the site based on decision at Council on 18 June 2025, for development of affordable housing (Post PH20) and construction of Capability Scotland's "Our Inclusive Community Project" (OICP) on the Glover Street site.

The proposals require Planning in principal for the overall scheme with detailed planning required for the OICP project to meet aspirations for the construction to start prior to PH20.

The masterplan is at pre-planning scheme and had one public consultation as part of the POAN process with another on the 11 March.  It is anticipated the planning submission will be made by early April.

As part of preparation for planning all site investigations and design have been carried out to RIBA stage 3.

How will the development affect Perth Leisure Pool and Dewars?

The development of OICP will require the demolition of the ramped access to PLP, loss of external car parking, reliance on underground Dewars car parking, relocated drainage, flood mitigation and loss of the play park.

The effect on the operation Dewars and PLP will be related to operating a building with an adjacent construction site which will require mitigation of deliveries, construction traffic and noise.

The heavy traffic entry point of the ramp will be removed requiring alternative access arrangements.

Parking assessments carried out on Glover Street have shown at peak usage 167 spaces were utilised when the park, Dewars and PLP were all busy and events on.

The parking under Dewars can contain 150 spaces if maximised.

Why is this project not part of Surface Water Management Plan, given the known risk of flooding?

The Glover Street site has been identified within the Surface Water Management Plan but all new developments must include flood mitigations as part of their Planning Application.

What affordable housing is intended for the site?

In initial designs we have looked to address the largest number of one-bed and two- bed demand in Perth City centre with a high density. This would allow for up to 103 flats.

This will be worked through more with planning and Housing colleagues. There are opportunities over tenure mixture and accommodation changes at this stage but given the demand and backlog of housing in this locality one-bedroom and two-bedroom flats would make the most impact.

How much parking will be included?

Initial designs identified a 25% allocation in line with city centre residential accommodation, but discussions about total overall parking provision are ongoing and may be increased.