East Kilbride

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Postby mmd » Thu Jun 09, 2005 10:16 am

Hey guys - first posting please be gentle with me

Can't help feeling that EK is getting a hard time here - probably going to echo a lot of the comments previously posted. EK has been a far greater overall success than Cumbernauld and, while it's far from perfect, it's actually not a bad place to live when you compare it to a lot of other towns generally around and about Scotland.

As to the question of the colour of bricks/roof tiles etc. etc of new houses - maybe not typical of Scottish architecture granted but they sure as hell look better on a rainy day than the usual grey or mouldy roughcast houses that make some of us want to leave Scotland en masse...
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Postby Vladimir » Thu Jun 09, 2005 4:05 pm

If they were not sandstone, houses in general used to be white painted which looks a lot more hopeful than roughcast thats true. But roughcast is a fairly new idea and it does look bleak. Slates are actually much better looking for this country(I think anyway) than the red/orange ones found on these houses.

Image

Where orange tiles are common is in Fife, but there they are combined with white walls which is much better than orange walls.

Image
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Postby Captain Brittles » Thu Jun 09, 2005 8:50 pm

As there has already been a wandering off topic on this can I say a few things - with due respect to the previous comments about Cumbernauld.

We moved here 2 years ago and we love it, repeat love it.

Okay we don't live in a madly designed 1960's area but who's to blame for that ? The goverment and the CDC of the time - all civil servants - some of who may have been a touch too close to the architects. Cumbernauld was merely a 60's follow up of the madness of the Glasgow housing schemes of the 50's - albeit with out the tenements but it was the 'swinging sixties' remember, strange things were happening all over the country.

Where we live the area abounds with trees, shrubs and well kept grassy areas - the council really do an excellent job upkeeping it all. I can walk out my door into a park surrounded by forest, where deer, foxes, rabbits and squirells roam, I can walk to a loch and lochans in 10 minutes, my youngest kidz can get to school in 5 minutes and have to cross only one road. There is also noticeably a lot less vandalism compared to other places.

Where we live it is 20 mins drive to Striling, 15 to Falkirk, 15 to Glasgow city and 5 to the town centre - which in my opinion might look terrible but is actually not too bad inside and seems to have nearly all the services you'd need.
I can drive all around the town without being stopped at traffic lights, in fact I can drive to almost any big city in Britain without encountering them - right from my front door. I can drive 5 minutes and catch a train to Waverley, Queen St., Stirling, Perth, dundee, Aberdeen or Inverness. I get to the Kilsyth Hills and see Arran and Fife from the same spot in 15 minutes. A reliable bus service - 50 yards away - operates on a 15 minute timetable which takes about 25 minutes to the city.
Whats not in this town is not very far away.

On the minus side it doesn't have an A & E hospital .... and not enough pubs.
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Postby paladin » Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:23 am

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Postby Vladimir » Fri Jun 10, 2005 7:34 am

I posted that one by mistake and removed it cause it wanst on Cumbernauld.
:oops: :wink:
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Postby Flyingscot » Fri Jun 10, 2005 4:30 pm



Theres was Motorola in Kelvin along with others, and Coca Cola are in Nerston. I have a map from the 1970/80's (approx) from the EKDC, which shows Stewartfield as Planned Northern develoment!
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Postby paladin » Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:25 pm

Flyingscot wrote:


Theres was Motorola in Kelvin along with others, and Coca Cola are in Nerston. I have a map from the 1970/80's (approx) from the EKDC, which shows Stewartfield as Planned Northern develoment!


I know what 'Industries' there are/have been in EK, but it was the link from Vladimir above (tut tut BBC) that starts off by saying'A look at Scotland's idustries'. If them at the beeb can't spell/proofread then it doesn't say much for the rest of us mere mortals. :wink:
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Postby My Kitten » Sat Jun 11, 2005 5:06 pm

Captain Brittles wrote:On the minus side it doesn't have an A & E hospital .... and not enough pubs.


Thats the thing about Cumbernauld, its a great place if you have young kids, just nothing for them to do (I grew up pre McD's, Pizza Hut etc) and the lack of pubs was a bit of a downer too. The town would improve 100% if they got rid of the toonie and got some decent shops in, rather than the skanky ones they have.

I totally agree with the being in the country bit and 5 mins from your house. I used to disapear for days when i was younger up paly rigg.
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Postby Vladimir » Sun Jun 12, 2005 1:25 pm

A timeline for East Kilbride

Key Dates In The New Town’s History

1947 East Kilbride designated to become a New Town
1948 the first staff appointed by the East Kilbride Development Corporation
1949 building for a new industrial park at Birniehill began.
1951 building began for the famous Rolls Royce factory
1952 the town was granted its own Coat of Arms
1953 Rolls Royce officially opened along with the 1000th new house
1956 the town becomes the first smoke free town in Britain and the Daer Valley project is opened by HM The Queen
1957 the first phase of the new town centre was opened by Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan; a major factory building programme began
1962 East Kilbride was visited by HM The Queen and Prince Philip
1964 1O,OOOth house opened by Prime Minister Sir Alec Douglas Home
1966 twinning link with Ballerup, Denmark is established
1968 East Kilbride's 21st anniversary and Scotland’s first Olympic size swimming pool opened in town
1970 Motorola located to town
1972 John Wright Sports Centre opened
1975 East Kilbride Development Corporation moves into Atholl House
1978 work starts on expressway to M74
1981 development of Peel Park begins
1983 planning starts for the Olympia
1986 Peel Park officially opened by Dr George Matheson
1991 official opening of Olympia leisure and shopping centre by HM The Queen
1993 Park's of Hamilton develops UK's first multi-franchise automobile complex
1994 Kingsgate Retail Park opened
1995 Motorola announces further £250 million expansion
1997 Sainsbury’s open new distribution centre
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