168-170, Hope Street, City Centre

3-storey plain classical corner tenement with modern shops at ground floor, 5 x 5 bays. Painted ashlar. Sash and case windows in simple architraves, corniced at 1st floor. Eaves cornice. Reduced, corniced wallhead stack. Piended slate roof. (Historic Scotland)

August 2004: The property has been vacant for some time, and external condition reveals it to be in poor condition, with peeling paintwork and vegetation growth. It was purchased about a year ago by Easibet, but no works have commenced as yet. September 2007: External inspection shows that, other at the ground floor, the walls, chimneys, roof and windows are in need on maintenance. The ground floor is in use as an eco-store and cafe. Of the twenty windows on the upper floors seven are boarded up and 2 bricked up. The paintwork is in very poor condition and there is stone spalling, especially on the Hope Street chimneys.

March 2008: Glasgow Building Preservation Trust advise SCT that this building has been associated in the past with redevelopment of the adjacent Lion Chambers, but there have been issues over mixed ownership.

November 2010: External inspection finds the upper floors remain derelict. The large corner retail unit on the ground floor has now fallen out of use. However, the north unit on Hope Street has come back into operation. Areas of damp and paint decay have increased, especially on the West Regent Street elevation.

14 December 2013: External inspection finds the walls continue to appear damp and suffering vegetation growth. The corner ground floor unit has been re-occupied since the previous site visit.

3 August 2023: External inspection finds that the building continues to suffer from damp and remains disused at the upper floors. The roof ridge appears to show signs of bowing and possible temporary covering is noted. The upper street-facing windows are covered with boarding. Some windows on the rear are also boarded and glazing is broken in an uncovered upper window. The long-term issues with damp continue to cause accelerated decay of the masonry. Protective sheathes have been put in place over a few pieces of masonry surrounding upper windows facing West Regent Street. The rear elevation is heavily graffitied. The lower units appear to be in use and secured. Remain at Risk.