We’re in that glorious part of Glasgow that dips steeply down towards the river, but we’ re looking up – at the grand red steeple of St Columba’s, the Gaelic church, and at a giant crane, neck straining towards the blue and white, and at a pillar of concrete that has counted up 1, 2, 3, 4 and will keep going until it gets to 16. This is the start of another of the new towers, the student skyscrapers. But they raise a few down-to-earth questions don’t you think?

The project we’re looking at today is on the corner of St Vincent Street and Pitt Street opposite the grand old Greek Thomson Church which is still lying unused (don’t get me started). The new tower will be known as St Vincent Studios and there’ll be 321 flats, a gym, cinema room, roof terrace and storage for 160 bikes, just what the modern student needs.

When it’s finished, some time next year, the building will be in familiar company, up in the sky. Just down the hill at bit on India Street, a new 18-storey tower for students has just obtained the funding it needs, and across from that will be an even larger, 36-storey tower for students which will be one of the tallest buildings in the city. In fact, since 2015, some 20 uni blocks have been completed in Glasgow and last year the council gave planning permission for more. The future for the centre of the city, it seems, is the student.

On the fact of it, there’s nothing much to complain about: the number of students at the city’s........

© Herald Scotland