A REVISED plan to build a seven-storey student block with 85 rooms in Glasgow city centre site has angered nearby residents.

Glasgow-based Inehaze has submitted new plans to construct the building on the north side of Renfrew Street.

Part of the adjoining furniture shop that forms part of the plinth of Fleming House will be used as a common room and laundry for the student block.

The site is in the central conservation area near Glasgow Film Theatre and St Aloysius Church.

However, 43 objections have been lodged, including one from Garnethill Community Council.

A previous application to build student accommodation on the site has been rejected by the city council and an appeal was rejected by the Scottish Government.

A report to city planners on the revised plans states the student accommodation will be in clusters of four, five, six and seven bedrooms, each having a kitchen/living room.

It admits the challenge is its position at the base of the 1960s Fleming House, as well as it being next to traditional tenements and close to the listed cinema and church.

The report adds: "The application involves the erection of a new building on a particularly prominent site within the central conservation area.

"As such, it is a pre-requisite any new development will require to be sensitively designed.

"Positioned on the corner of Renfrew Street and Rose Street, the street block is characterised by buildings of differing height and scale and various architecture and staggered building lines.

"The application uses the opportunity provided by this vacant site to provide definition to this underdeveloped corner."

But residents have raised a series of concerns about the planned development. They believe the students' block will be out of keeping with other buildings in the area.

The report states the developer has reduced the height of the building by one storey and has recessed the top floor behind the main building line.

It adds: "The proposals will result in the development of a site presently considered to have a negative impact on the character and setting of the conservation area."

Residents have also raised concerns about anti-social behaviour and fears that the introduction of a young, transient population will reduce the feeling of community and further deter older residents from venturing out in the evenings.

Meanwhile, students will this week move into a new £8million development on the site of the former Comet store near Partick Cross.

The project, by Alumno Developments and Kier Construction, provides beds for 174 students with 24-hour security and an on-site warden.

Alumno managing director David Campbell said: "It will be well managed round the clock, providing excellent on-site facilities, as well as support and welfare services for students."

vivienne.nicoll@eveningtimes.co.uk