Last week Glasgow’s architectural heritage suffered two serious blows.
A second deliberate fire destroyed the roof of the B-listed former Prince and Princess of Wales Hospice building on Carlton Place and a Dangerous Buildings Notice was served on the ABC, ordering the demolition of the familiar facade that has stood defiantly on Sauchiehall Street since the much-loved venue was gutted by the second Glasgow School of Art fire in June 2018.
Glasgow has an ignominious track record of needlessly destroying its architecture – but it does not need to be this way. It is not only demoralising for Glaswegians who love their city’s heritage, but it’s also incredibly wasteful.
Carlton Place is one of Scotland’s best examples of a Georgian terrace. In Edinburgh, it would be highly desirable street with full occupancy; in Glasgow, it is largely derelict and dilapidated with weeds sprouting from gaps in the stonework.
Glasgow City Council must get tougher on negligent building owners who let our built heritage fall into disrepair.
Infuriatingly, when I ask Council officers what more they are going to do to stop listed buildings rotting away to the point of collapse, they say that it is the responsibility of the building’s owners.
The Council should be much more proactive in using their statutory planning powers, such as Urgent Works Notices and Listed Building Repairs Notices, to prevent further decline rather than just mopping up the mess once buildings have collapsed.
The ongoing demolition of the India Buildings – also in Laurieston – has cost the Council a vast sum of money to demolish while displacing dozens of residents in the neighbouring building, who have been made homeless for four months now. The absentee landlord that caused this disruption faces no penalty for their negligence.
The Council could have pro-actively tackled the owner by serving a Listed Building Repairs Notice, and if that had not been successful in forcing the owner to carry out the required maintenance work within two months, a Compulsory Purchase Order could then have been served and the property transferred to a housing association for conversion into flats.
The Council does seem to be more trigger happy in serving Dangerous Buildings Notices, however. No sooner than a planning application for student flats was submitted for the former ABC venue last month, the Council bypassed the normal process for demolition of a listed building by ordering the total demolition of the historic venue’s façade last week.
The original building plan in the Mitchell Library highlights that the monumental entrance portico that was built in 1929 by Charles McNair is solid concrete with a cast iron glazing screen by Walter Macfarlane & Co’s Saracen Foundry, the same as Selfridges in London. Drone footage taken over the weekend shows that it remains structurally sound, with heavy roof plant still sitting intact 73 months after the fire. The portico is a much-loved landmark, and it should be retained as part of any new development.
Historic Environment Scotland agree, stating, "Retaining the portico does not appear to be incompatible with the proposals for deconstructing the rest of the building…the portico should, therefore, be retained unless it can be demonstrated that it too is not capable of being propped and repaired.”
No compelling evidence has been presented by the developer or the Council that demolishing this grand old art deco icon of Sauchiehall Street is necessary. It is unacceptable that Councils can exploit Dangerous Buildings Notices to fully demolish listed buildings without first presenting evidence from conservation-accredited engineers to
demonstrate that there is no alternative to demolition.
That’s why I have teamed up with SAVE Britain’s Heritage to launch a parliamentary petition calling on the Scottish Government to close this loophole and bolster safeguards for threatened listed buildings.
In the meantime, you can write to the Council at planning.representations@drs.glasgow.gov.uk objecting to the demolition of the ABC portico by today’s deadline citing reference number 4/01680/FUL.
You can read my column on the Glasgow Times website here:
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