Anderston Centre
Anderston Centre | |
---|---|
Anderston Cross Commercial Centre | |
Brutalist | |
Address | Cadogan Street / Argyle Street |
Town or city | Anderston, Glasgow |
Country | Scotland |
Coordinates | 55°51′36″N 4°16′0″W / 55.86000°N 4.26667°W |
Construction started | 1968 |
Completed | 1972 |
Opened | 1973 |
Renovated | 1994–present |
Owner | Glasgow City Council Taylor Wimpey |
Height | 153 feet (47 m) |
Technical details | |
Structural system | Pre-cast Concrete |
Floor count | 19 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Richard Seifert |
Main contractor | Myton |
The Anderston Centre (originally styled as the Anderston Cross Commercial Centre, but now officially branded as Cadogan Square) is a mixed-use commercial and residential complex, and former bus station located in the
The complex was voted at Position No. 54 in the Prospect magazine's 100 best modern Scottish buildings. After falling into partial dereliction in the 1990s, the megastructure has undergone major redevelopment with some elements demolished and replaced, and others comprehensively refurbished.
History and Construction
Following the
The core of the complex was based on a multi-level system[2] constructed from pre-cast concrete, connected via sloping walkways and unique open-air escalators, housing a semi-enclosed shopping mall and office space, and a distinctive octagonal shaped leisure complex - which housed a snooker club.[3] These elements were accessed by a
The eastern end of the complex consisted of an unconnected S-shaped, 9-storey office block (initially known as McIver House, later 1 Cadogan Square), which would frame the operating area of the bus station, exiting onto Douglas Street and Blythswood Street.
Decline and Demise
Seifert's scheme was never implemented in its entirety - conceptual drawings of the complex dating from the mid-1960s show a second phase immediately to the west of the first, which had an extended shopping plaza and three additional housing towers. This second phase was never built - the visible evidence of its incompleteness being the unfinished Anderston pedestrian bridge (the infamous 'Bridge to Nowhere') which terminated 100 metres away in midair before its eventual completion as a cycle path in 2013, where it now terminates just to the north west corner of the complex. This section of the site was eventually filled by the Glasgow Marriott and Hilton hotels which were built in 1981 and 1992, respectively.
The location of a bus terminal at Anderston had been predicated as part of the Bruce Report proposals which called for the city centre's numerous bus stations to be consolidated down to just two at either corner of the central area - the other station being Buchanan Bus Station - opening a few years later in 1977. The services from Anderston largely served the city's southern suburbs and surrounding towns, and were intended to make use of the southern flank of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road which was never completed in its intended form. By the end of the 1980s, it had been decided to consolidate all services at the renamed Buchanan Bus Station, and by September 1993, Anderston was closed completely, dealing the final fatal blow to the shopping area of the complex, which was completely abandoned by the middle of the 1990s following the loss of what was essentially the
Largely unpoliced, the centre's covered service roads and access walkways became a notorious red-light district, becoming a haven for prostitutes and vandals, and the development's once-fashionable bare concrete
Contemporary architectural critics of the period blame the location of the complex as a factor in its failure as a shopping destination, critically being "a few hundred yards too far to the west"[5] to encourage shoppers on Argyle Street beyond the psychological barrier of Central Station and Hielanman's Umbrella. In addition, the opening of the St Enoch Centre in 1989 further consolidated Glasgow's core shopping district in its existing area, leaving the Anderston complex redundant.
Regeneration
By the mid-1990s, efforts began to regenerate the complex. Controlled access to the centre's car park and service undercroft was brought into deal with the notorious prostitution problem. The former bus station was built over by the Europa House office building in 1999, and a further office block known as the Cerium Building[6] replaced the northern half of the shopping complex in the early 2000s - this block being occupied by Morgan Stanley.
In 2002, plans were put forward to demolishing the Davaar housing tower of the complex with a view to removing the remaining two at a later stage; this decision was later reversed when a development company removed the southern section of the shopping and commercial centre in 2004 and replaced it with the 20-storey Argyle Building private housing development and Cuprum office block.
In 2008,
Tentative plans exist to remove the remains of the commercial centre, leaving a landscaped area between the three tower blocks, but these have yet to come to fruition. In September 2014, the Scottish Ensemble staged a one-off concert entitled 20th Century Perspectives, in one of the complex's derelict office spaces,[7] in a celebration of Scotland's modernist architecture and 20th Century classical music.
See also
References
- ^ "Anderston Cross". theglasgowstory.com. Retrieved 20 May 2011.
- ^ "Anderston Centre : Restructuring the City". Paul Gallie - Architect (Persional Project. Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2011.
- ISBN 9780140710694.
- ^ "The New Anderston". theglasgowstory.com. Retrieved 21 November 2011.
- ISBN 1-85158-201-0.
- ^ The Herald (17 January 2002). "The Regeneration of Anderston Continues". Retrieved 13 December 2011.
- ^ Molleson, Kate. "Review: Music". The Herald. Retrieved 23 October 2014.