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Tunnels - and evidence!

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:55 pm
by Ronnie
At the risk of inflaming the many lovers of tunnels (and what would Freud have made of that?), here is a great example of someone folowing up the stories and rumours of tunnels under his home town, and producing the documented evidence - and photographs - of subterranean Portsmouth.

For what it's worth, I think the most likely underground cold war construction in Glasgow is between India Street (UK government offices in modern concrete) and the adjacent motorway. In the event of hostilities, the motorways would have been restricted to government, military and emergency services, and there would need to be a quick connection here. You could add in the train station at Charing Cross, and its associated tunnels. Anyone care to follow this up in the records?

Best wishes, Ronnie

PostPosted: Thu Feb 26, 2004 10:57 pm
by Ronnie
Errm :oops:
I should have included the URL ...

http://www.portsdown-tunnels.org.uk/index.html

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 12:47 pm
by caine
sorry to burst your bubble, but i work in said building, and although there is the queens warehouse in here, theres no bunkers. i've checked.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 5:51 pm
by john-g
caine,

do you know when they're gonna demolish those old Strathclyde Council offices?

There's an impressive new office scheme set to replace them, but I haven't heard anything for months.

Ta.

PostPosted: Fri Feb 27, 2004 6:12 pm
by crusty_bint
Trinity project

The £100 million development on the site of the former Strathclyde Regional Council headquarters will have three separate towers with a four star plus hotel, luxury apartments and office space for up to 1500 people.

Image

Image

PostPosted: Sat Feb 28, 2004 1:27 am
by Ronnie
Thanks, caine
Not sure what you mean by "the queens warehouse" in India Street.
It wasn't so much a bunker as an escape route I was thinking of.

And thanks, Crunchy, for the pictures of Trinity.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 2:05 pm
by Some Guy
Ronnie wrote:Thanks, caine
Not sure what you mean by "the queens warehouse" in India Street.
It wasn't so much a bunker as an escape route I was thinking of.

And thanks, Crunchy, for the pictures of Trinity.


"The Queens Warehouse" is where they take all the seized goods to be stored pending (enter as appropriate). There's also an incinerator down there.

PostPosted: Mon Mar 01, 2004 4:59 pm
by escotregen
Ronnie,
Maybe of relevance to your suspicions/suggestions of escape route arounf India Street. About 3 years ago there was an article in the 'Herald' based on New Years release of official papers. In the event of a nuclear strike on Glasgow 'displaced persons' were to be gathered on the other side of the river almost opposite India Street, just maybe more than a coincidence this is all around the same bit of the city. Conspiracy folk might suspect that the motorway was to be closed to anyone but fleeing military etc whilst the poor civvies were to congregate on open ground at the other side of the river. and... you'r going to like this... they were to be 'transported by the municipal bus fleet' (gosh, the Larkfield garage must have been nuclear bomb proofed for the fleet to be intact). Then it gets better, because the displaced were to be transported to Clarkston and Newton Mearns to be 'rehoused by the locals'; now as we all know the Newton Mearns constituency is full of very progressive folk who would of course rush to help their destitute neighbours from Glasgow! I just fell about laughing over the rank stupidity of officials planning this sort of black farce. Unfortunatly I lost the article (being handed around the pub too much)and could not retrieve a copy, the Herald archives were (and I think still are) patchy and almost random and they could not help me trace it.

Re: Tunnels - and evidence!

PostPosted: Tue Mar 02, 2004 5:06 pm
by JayKay
Ronnie wrote:
For what it's worth, I think the most likely underground cold war construction in Glasgow is between India Street (UK government offices in modern concrete) and the adjacent motorway.



Glasgow's cold war HQ was in East Kilbride. They obviously reckoned much of the city centre would be a very deep smoking crater shortly after the outbreak of WWIII so there was little point in putting a regional seat of government bunker there.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 11:19 am
by caine
dunno when or even if the new building and hotle will be built now, as we have decided to stay put as the plan was to demolish this building and the council building to make way for it all. but i think we(or the powers that be) have scuppered that idea somewhat.

PostPosted: Wed Mar 03, 2004 12:56 pm
by stunev
All the talk about the India Street area has reminded me of something, there is a building in Elmbank Street called the Theatre Hotel, it's on the end of the row with an alley to the side.

About 30 years ago this building had a large extractor fan on the side wall and was listed in the phone book under "Glasgow Corporation" as "Storm Damage Headquarters" and then, I think as "Civil Defence Headquarters"

PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:35 am
by crusty_bint
Shiny shiny shiny!!!

An update on the Trinity project

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/news/5024775.html

Old Strathclyde buildings development

PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:44 am
by gap74
I see the plan for this site is now to build a single, 139 metre tower with 39 stories of retail, office and housing space. If built, it would by far be the tallest building in Scotland.

Am I right in remembering that Glasgow City Council at least used to have a rule on the height of new developments? Anyone know what it was?

Wonder if this means the footbridge to nowhere will finally get somewhere to go to??

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/3558563.stm

Gary

PostPosted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:24 am
by Ronnie
Yes, Stunev, that building was the City Council civil defence section. A late friend used to work for the council and he said he found a huge cache of photographs there, of the victims of the Clydebank Blitz, which were a bit unsettling. It was in that building, too, that I say the banned episode of the BBC "Secret Society" series, on Project Zircon (just Google it). So quite an interesting building - wonder if there was anything interesting found when it was renovated as a hotel?
Best, Ronnie