Transport Scotland is consulting on the future of the M8 Woodside Viaducts.

This is a once-in-a-generation decision.

The consultation was launched on the 18th February 2026 to determine whether to Repair, Replace, or Remove an important section of the M8 that separates the city centre from the north of Glasgow: the Woodside Viaducts. 

The consultation is due to close on the 25th March 2026.

However, conversations with local community groups, stakeholders, and people who live, work and play within the communities which border these Viaducts make it clear that the consultation:

  • is limited in terms of time and in-person engagement (only two in-person drop-in sessions)
  • digital platform is inaccessible and complicated
  • has been thrust upon people and communities with no prior engagement
  • provides an ultimatum of three options without a meaningful understanding of the opinions of local people. 

A Creative Response

Working alongside the local organisations, community groups, academic institutions and other organisations, Lateral North is asking young people, students and the general public to respond creatively to this opportunity and once-in-a-generation decision. 

This creative response will be a collective voice, to be submitted to Transport Scotland before the deadline of the 25th March 2026.

Over the coming two weeks, we are seeking creative responses that offer ideas, hopes and designs for the future of the land that currently hosts the M8 Woodside Viaducts. 

The creative responses can be in any medium – developed by artists, architects, urban planners, musicians, filmmakers or any other discipline – and can address whether that person (or group of people) thinks the M8 Woodside Viaducts should be repaired, replaced or removed. 

Equally, creative responses are sought that challenge the Repair / Replace / Remove model proposed by Transport Scotland. Could the whole thing be tunnelled? Should we repurpose the viaducts? Should there be no cars at all in the city centre?

‘Design Briefs’ – What do we mean by this? 

To help develop creative responses, Lateral North have prepared the following six ‘design briefs’ (more details below):

  • Reconnect
  • Reimagine
  • Rewild
  • Repurpose
  • Remodel
  • Renew

The first of these design briefs is the ‘Open Brief’ that allows you to go completely off-piste and respond creatively to the opportunity to reconnect the land and communities between the city centre, west end and north of the city. 

The other five give ideas of how you might respond, provoking some ideas and considerations, as well as how different media of communication may respond to the brief.

To download the design briefs as a PDF click here: Reconnect Glasgow – Design Briefs

Or read them below.

Please send your ideas, designs and hopes for the future to ideas@lateralnorth.com

Design Briefs – Details

Design Brief 01

RECONNECT

If we were to RECONNECT the land and communities between the city centre, the west end and the north of Glasgow, what would that look like? This Open Brief asks you to offer your ideas, hopes and designs for the future of the land that currently hosts the M8 Woodside Viaducts. Describe in words, paintings, drawings or any other medium what the future of the land would look like if repaired.

 

Design Brief 02

REIMAGINE

How would you REIMAGINE the M8 Woodside Viaducts to be greener, more resilient and more vibrant in a future Glasgow? Would you remove them entirely and replace them with something else? Or turn them into a different space completely? This brief asks you to think about how you creatively interpret this future vision through different media. Could you write a song about this future? Develop renders of these new spaces? Or develop a brand, identity or graphical style that refers to the new function of this space? 

 

Design Brief 03

REWILD

Could the M8 Woodside Viaducts become a key nature corridor? Could we REWILD it to encourage a better relationship between people and nature? This brief asks you to give voice to the natural world, encouraging wildlife to thrive within the city centre. Could the viaducts be retained while serving as a wildlife habitat and a key nature corridor? Could the canals be extended through the land that the viaducts currently sit on? 

 

Design Brief 04

REPURPOSE

As we move toward a more circular economy and environmentally friendly practices, can we REPURPOSE the M8 Woodside Viaducts to be something completely different to what they are now? Could the concrete be turned into something wildly different from what it is now? Could the road be removed with the viaduct pillars remaining, and encouraged to become an urban haven for wildlife? This brief asks you to think about the embodied carbon within the pillars, how we might reuse and repurpose human-built objects, and how we can design more sustainably. 

 

Design Brief 05

REMODEL

If the M8 Woodside Viaducts were removed, could we REMODEL the land to be wildly different from what it is now? Could the land become a unique visitor attraction? In Valencia, they turned a river that flooded into one of the most-visited parks and public spaces in the world. In Oslo, the city centre has become one of the most walkable cities in Europe. How would you show this remodelling of the space? Through architectural renders? Performance art? Film? 

 

Design Brief 06

RENEW

Could the land that currently hosts the M8 Woodside Viaducts allow something completely new to arrive in its place and RENEW the area? With primary schools, secondary schools and universities on either side of the current road network, could a new piece of architecture be built to support young education and play? Could we build an incredible new civic building that supports young people? Could we create a network of community spaces that support personal growth, regardless of a person’s age?