Elphinstone Place

[Vladimir]

Has anybody seen any construction work going on? I read that half the old regional offices had been pulled down.

[crusty_bint]

Nothing has happened on site yet, the old SRH building is still sitting pretty... erm, yeah. Don't know what the hold up is (I personally cant wait to see the back of it) but there is still scaffolding erected around the adjoing building which has been up for ages so perhaps they have to wait till that comes down before the can start the demolition work? Caine, do you not work in that other building? Whens the refurb scheduled for completion?

Crusty

[caine]

you have got to be f*ckin kidding me??!?!???!!!!!!

they're building that next to the dump which is my building and the council offices? how stupid are we going to look!

the renovation for our building isnt due to be completed until next year some time if they are on schedule, which they are not, and thats only renovating the inside, the outside is only being touched up and new windows put in. oh and two fancy lamp posts outside the front door.

its costing several million quid to bring this place back up to spec....


just shown that round my office, there's howls of laughter coming from every direction!!!

[Closet Classicist]

Caine I worked in the Elphinstone Place project team for a very long time and have had no small part to play in the process though I am now heading off to pastures new. I can assure you the feeling is mutual. If it wasn't for the fact that Portcullis House lets Glasgow down so badly I too would find this hysterical. I cannot believe that British Land aren't taking advantage of the opportunity presented and yes the result will look ridiculous. Once Elphinstone Place is built (which it will be) their site is going to be a helluva lot more valuable. Therefore tying the property into yet another long lease seems to be both really short sighted and a wasted opportunity. If this were in London they would be tripping over themselves to develop the site! In fact they commissioned architects BDP to masterplan that site in the late 90's prior to the lease expiring. BDP proposed a 30 storey tower at the junction of Elmbank Crescent and India Street and I gather the city was amenable to this. Seems a shame that instead of this we get stuck with a building that presents its backside to the motorway for every visitor to our city to see (in fairness when it was originally built it was part of a larger block, half of which was then promptly demolished to make way for the motorway. Therefore its west elevation was never meant to have the importance, or prominence, it has unfortunately wound up with). A lot of people I have spoken to share this sentiment. The opportunity to correct this mistake will be lost for another generation.

[crusty_bint]

(in fairness when it was originally built it was part of a larger block, half of which was then promptly demolished to make way for the motorway. Therefore its west elevation was never meant to have the importance, or prominence, it has unfortunately wound up with)

I did not know that! Real pity they didn't get rid: typical Glasgow short-sightedness Any clues as to when demolition of SRH woll commence CC ...even a wee hint? I have to admit, Im still not entirely convinced by the podium of Elphinstone, its a bit like wearing an Armani suit with a pair of Nicks trainers (no offence CC)

[Closet Classicist]

Crusty

Portcullis house replaced what was originally a pretty decent Victorian terrace. Closest parallel I can think of is the terrace on the south side of Great Western Road just after the Grosvenor Hotel / Grosvenor Terrace i.e. Kew Terrace, Belhaven Terrace. Don't know who the architect was but it would have easily been a candidate for a 'B' listing if it hadn't been bulldozed. The Pevsner guide to Glasgow describes India street prior to the demolition of its original townhouses / tenements as one of the most charming streets in the city centre. Scant evidence of this now!

This was just part of a fully intact Victorian urban block that was defined by India St, Elmbank Cresent, North St, and St Vincent St. I don't know what the east side of North Street looked like (never seen any photos) but given the scale of the tenements in the stretch south of the Mitchell I would imagine they must have been of a similar scale, character, and quality. Evidently the road planners at the time aligned the motorway with North Street as it was expedient to do so. Heaven knows what possesed them as in doing so they destroyed a huge swath of pretty solid city centre property that would be very valuable now and would have a good transition between the Park District and Blythswood Hill. This would have been the Glaswegian equivalent to the crescents and terraces of the west end of Edinburgh's New Town. Big loss to Glasgow IMO.

As for the podium to Elphinstone Place. No offence taken but I think I've said enough about this in Skyscrapercity. So I'm diplomatically not going to say any more

Cheers

CC

[Vladimir]

The location in the city though makes up for its height. Im no fan of American style skyscrapers, but as you cross the clyde by car or train, or drive right past it with it above, im sure it will be an impressive sight. Just forget its 20 floors smaller then Manchester's silver blob.

Whats with the architecture now anyway its all too blobby. A more angular set of buildings would suit Glasgow better, giving its grid pattern and quantity of already angular high rises. It will just look a bit out of place.

[john-g]

The virtual mitchell, as ever, turns up trumps.
http://www.mitchelllibrary.org/vm/searches/streets_a.html

North street, past.


North street, future. I dunno, something looks a wee bit different.


Site of Abbey national...



Elmbank street, the octagonal turret has made way for Variety gate...


India street




Holland street.



What I wouldn't give to walk around Glasgow in 1939...

[Closet Classicist]

Vladimir

Pages 3, 4, and 5 of the Glasgow development summary thread in Skyscrapercity should fill in some of the blanks about why it is the shape it is.

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=5&pp=20

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=4&pp=20

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=3&pp=20

Is Elphinstone blobby ?! I would have thought more curvey! Not sure which silver blobby building you are referring to in Manchester... are there any? Manchester has a couple of 50 storey jobs under construction but that is only 11 storeys taller than Elphinstone and anyway height isn't everything. I do actually agree with you about angular though. It does seem more suited to Glasgow's aesthetic and there is a definite trend away from curves in architecture at the moment but having said that there were sound scientific reasons for the shape and appearance of the Elphinstone tower as that shape offered the most viable solution to the impact of wind. It is unlikely that an angular tower on this site would have had an acceptable impact on local wind conditions and that is a planning matter. Furthermore wind conditions in Glasgow are a lot more onerous than in Manchester. You might also be interested to see the new Dandara proposal for the Cheapside site either side of the Kingston bridge. A series of 50 to 40 storey towers which have a distinct angular feel to them. Its at the bottom of this page:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthrea ... ge=2&pp=20

Heaven knows how this will wind tunnel test!

Cheers

CC

PS Ta for the photos John. Judging from the buildings North Street looks like it was a major north south axis in Glasgow. And I got my west and east sides of India street confused. It was Nye Bevan House that replaced the terraces.

[Vladimir]

Sorry for anybody who likes this building but I didnt know just how awful it is going to look I didnt mean blobby so much as the over use of glass, they are all glass, just big shards of glass.

Is it just me or do these Manchester ones kind of rise out of the semi urban outskirts of the city centre. They have, unlike Glasgow, a tradition of building corporate towers. A look at their other biuldings will show them to be a bit small. They only have 9 buildings over 20 floors, theyre just BIG thats all.

At least Elphinstone will be near other buildings and the M8.

The round bit at the top of the tower is an interesting feature, it reminds me of the 'funnels' at the College of Building and Printing, we could interprit this as a ship funnnel as they have claimed before.

[caine]

Caine I worked in the Elphinstone Place project team for a very long time and have had no small part to play in the process though I am now heading off to pastures new. I can assure you the feeling is mutual. If it wasn't for the fact that Portcullis House lets Glasgow down so badly I too would find this hysterical. I cannot believe that British Land aren't taking advantage of the opportunity presented and yes the result will look ridiculous. Once Elphinstone Place is built (which it will be) their site is going to be a helluva lot more valuable. Therefore tying the property into yet another long lease seems to be both really short sighted and a wasted opportunity. If this were in London they would be tripping over themselves to develop the site! In fact they commissioned architects BDP to masterplan that site in the late 90's prior to the lease expiring. BDP proposed a 30 storey tower at the junction of Elmbank Crescent and India Street and I gather the city was amenable to this. Seems a shame that instead of this we get stuck with a building that presents its backside to the motorway for every visitor to our city to see (in fairness when it was originally built it was part of a larger block, half of which was then promptly demolished to make way for the motorway. Therefore its west elevation was never meant to have the importance, or prominence, it has unfortunately wound up with). A lot of people I have spoken to share this sentiment. The opportunity to correct this mistake will be lost for another generation.

well were were supposed to be getting shipped out as i'm sure you are aware, but for some reason they didnt want to have to build a new site for us, which was going to be down at the clydeside next to the daily record building, but the lease on our building and the council one across the road is tied for another 50 years.

[Closet Classicist]

What !!!! We're stuck with that for another 50 years !!!!

That means baring British Land buying you out of the lease another three generations (15 year periods)will have to pass before we can get rid of it.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooo !!!!!!!

[caine]

it would seem so. but i'm outa here in a few months thank the lord! at least i wont have to see it so often.

[crusty_bint]

I don't think id call Elphinstone blobby, its a bit sleaker than that, I do think the base should have taken its cue from the Whyte&McKay building though and perhaps stepped up to the tower. I'm no architect tho and Im sure theres a reason it is the way it is?

I see where you're coming from in thinking angular structures fit the city-centre layout better, but only in terms of footprint; its nice to have a mix tho and theres (as CC has shown) sound reasoning for the shape being what it is. Anyways, is angular not synonymous with Red Road in this city? ala GM+AD's Glasgow Harbour PhaseII!

Cheers for the images John... dont they just make you want to curl up and shoot someone

[Vladimir]

I see your point its actually not so round and the angles, though rounded a bit, match the directions of the streets I feel sorry for Red Road, I know its supposed to be a crap place to live, but im not to bothered with the style. What I like about a lot of the 60s/70s blocks is that you can actually see the individual windows and get an impression of height. I know there are visable lines but this is lost a bit on these all glass structures.