A Greek Tragedy

[escotregen]

I never did get even the courtesy of an acknowledgement from Hanzala to my email enquiries about the continued loss of Glasgow's Greek Thompson heritage... but I see that he's off to Kuala Lumpar to "learn from an Asian city about regeneration". That wee junket will no doubt be in addition to the holidays he had while "the council was adjourned for July" when I earlier tried to pursue my enquiry. There again, I suppose that Hanzala can learn something from Malaysia given that its governing elite share a disdain for bothering too much about their citizens'views.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/25209.html

[Apollo]

Frankly, since I learned of this guy, I find I have to fight off the easy route of just giving up reason and becoming a racist, not realy a good idea for me personally, even though I could squeeze some noce Scots names out of the family tree. And it would be easy to look at him and wonder if you should be surprised he's going to Asia for inspiration instead of looking inward to Scotland. Think the good folk of KL even considered looking here for inspiration for their skyline?

Scotland must be a laughing stock to the outside world. We've just had the fiasco of the Scottish Parliament, probably fortunately not crafted by a Scots architect given the result, now we have to go to Asia to import ideas for regenerating our city and our skyline.

Bah, humbug!!!

[escotregen]

At first glance at this in todays Herald, I thought it was a brilliant new initiative to save Glasgow's threatened old buildings. But the more I read the more it seems to amount to just another big listing excercise that won't deliver any real outcomes in terms of saved buildings. See what you think:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/26351.html

[Sir Roger DeLodgerley]

just another big listing excercise that won't deliver any real outcomes in terms of saved buildings.

Got it in one. No surprise to see that the City Chambers is mentioned as a candidate for remedial work. Councillors spending money on their own surroundings whilst letting other historical buildings crumble to dust? Only in Glasgow.

[Apollo]

I agree. I think I posted about a TV news article I didn't catch in full a few months ago, and it would seem to have been the initial announcement of this exercise.

Back then it sounded like no more than a listing exrecise, and reading through this article gives no mention of funding to actually carry out remedial works.

I suspect the lawyers are in play again, and the council are acting to provide a legal defence should someone be injured in a similar event to that in Edinburgh. They will be able to show they had taken reasonable care by identifying the structures at risk, and were in the process of arranging for remedial action to be taken when finaces become available.

[duncan]

I never did get even the courtesy of an acknowledgement from Hanzala to my email enquiries about the continued loss of Glasgow's Greek Thompson heritage... but I see that he's off to Kuala Lumpar to "learn from an Asian city about regeneration". That wee junket will no doubt be in addition to the holidays he had while "the council was adjourned for July" when I earlier tried to pursue my enquiry. There again, I suppose that Hanzala can learn something from Malaysia given that its governing elite share a disdain for bothering too much about their citizens'views.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/25209.html

the two main things he seems to have 'learned' are that Glasgow needs something like the Petronas towers, and a monorail! An episode of the Simpsons springs to mind...

""It was a breath of fresh air. In Glasgow, we need some sort of monorail to complement our underground system. "

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F10.html

[AMcD]

"....we need some sort of monorail..."

http://www.snpp.com/episodes/9F10.html

"I hear those things are awfully loud..."
It glides as gently as a cloud....

"Is there a chance the track could bend?"
Not on your life, my Hindu friend.

"What about us brain-dead slobs?"
You'll all be given cushy jobs.

"Were you sent here by the devil?"
No, good sir, I'm on the level.

...........

Well... I'm convinced.

MONORAIL !

[Apollo]

Think of the money the good councillor could have saved (us) had he just looked in here for inspiration.

A quick spin aroound the recent posts and if he was so inspired, he would have found said inspiration in our thread about Bennie's railplane.

Ok councillor, let's see the route... suburbs? city centre? what areas?... poor, deprived, residential, undeveloped/developed?

Maybe if he came back with some contracts for us I would be reaching for the anti-cycnic pills so I don't hurt my side laughing again.

[escotregen]

I could hardly bear to even think about the recent loss of Elgin Place Church (Taco Bells); as HG folks noted, another oddly quick decision by the Council at a distracting time based, on the alleged unsafe condition of the building, followed by an equally prompt demolition of a grade a listed treasure. However, this time it has maybe raised the whole profile of heritage loss if letters in the Evening Times and Herald are to go by. The letter from Niall Murphy today is especially welcome - even if it includes the awful news that there won't even be an architect appointed by the developer of the Greek Thompson Office site.
http://www.theherald.co.uk/features/30752.html
This is all useful material for thought in the context of Sharon's thread on 'a new role' for HG

[Closet Classicist]

Thanks for publishing that link escotregen. This was infact an edited version of a much longer letter but the editor asked me to trim it down as it would have taken up the entire page! Can't tell you how angry this cackhanded and ignorant demolition made me. If Glasgow want's to stay competitive with rival northern cities it can't afford just to throw away heritage of this kind of calibre. Someone should have clipped the wings of building control if it was really on their say so. Don't imagine I will get a response from the council though.

Cheers

Niall
(aka closet classicist)

[escotregen]

Closet, I look forward to any reply you might recieve from the Council - I'm still waiting in vain for any response to my email and chaser to Convenor Hanza Malik last July re the earlier destruction of the West Regent Street offices.

[Closet Classicist]

escotregen I didn't discover the Hidden Glasgow forums until this thread was well under way but have to agree with your sentiments re:

I never did get even the courtesy of an acknowledgement from Hanzala to my email enquiries about the continued loss of Glasgow's Greek Thompson heritage... but I see that he's off to Kuala Lumpar to "learn from an Asian city about regeneration". That wee junket will no doubt be in addition to the holidays he had while "the council was adjourned for July" when I earlier tried to pursue my enquiry. There again, I suppose that Hanzala can learn something from Malaysia given that its governing elite share a disdain for bothering too much about their citizens'views.

I said much the same thing over in the Glasgow metro forums in Skyscrapercity.com :

Now here comes the science bit. Imagine you are a councillor and that its junkett time. Just which urban summit / congress from the three on offer this September do you choose? Which one is likely to have most relevance to your constituents? Do you opt for:

A) The Block Urban Summit dealing with the regeneration of Glasgow and based at the Lighthouse a handy 10 minutes walk away from your office?

B) The World Urban Forum in Barcelona a mere three hours flight away attended by 782 National goverment participants, 586 local government participants, 373 UN participants, and 45 Parliamentarians; housed in an interesting expo site showcasing the talents of some of Europe's best architects including Herzog and de Meuron, and Enric Miralles; all in a city which is highly regarded for its architecture, urbanism and regeneration?

C) The World Urban Development Congress in Kuala Lumpur, involving a twelve hour flight, which offers tours of Malaysia brand spanking new state funded baubles including the shiny new capital Putrajaya and the world's tallest buildings (oh goody!) the Petronas Towers?

Hmmm... Tough Call!

Yes indeed, it must have been a difficult choice for poor Councillor Hanzala. Can't think of anything more irrelevant to Glasgow than Kuala Lumpur and anything more pertinent than Barcelona but there you go. Is this guy really in charge of heritage and regeneration issues here? Little wonder local government in the UK is held in such low esteem at the moment if this is the calibre that it has to offer.

[DMcNay]

Well... I'm convinced.

MONORAIL !

"But Glasgow is still cracked and broken!"

"sorry Dave, the mob has spoken"

Monorail, Monorail! MONORAIL!!!!!!!!!

Mono-d'oh!

[Closet Classicist]

Further to my Elgin Place congregational church letter in the Herald where I refered to the RFAC Future Scotland report on the proposed replacement building for the Greek Thomson West Regent Street site, here is a copy of their report:

040608 Glasgow City Council:
107 West Regent Street – office development involving demolition of existing building – Ross Moore Chartered Building Surveyors/Keppie Planning

The site for the proposed development was bounded by West Regent Street, Wellington Street and West Regent Street Lane. Demolition of the existing building had commenced. The building was early 19th century, Category A Listed, remodelled and extended by Greek Thomson for his own offices in 1872. A five storey office block was proposed for the site. Doorways and porticos from the demolished building would be incorporated into the Bath Street and Wellington Street façades.

The designs submitted for the replacement building were inaccurate, showing fundamental discrepancies between plan and elevation. The way in which Greek Thomson’s features, the designed doorways and porticos would be incorporated was heavy handed and insensitive to their special quality. The treatment of the elevations, with projecting bays that would cantilever over the pavement on Wellington Street and West Regent Street Lane, was banal and inappropriate.

An understanding of the immediate urban environment needed to be demonstrated by contextual drawings to show how any proposed building here would relate to its neighbours, mainly of 18th or early 19th century, between two and three storeys high. The Greek Thomson building, though he had made it special, sat well within its context because it was similar to those that surrounded it in terms of scale, proportional relationship between window openings and wall and the materials used. RFACFS expected designers to consider carefully the impact that their modern intervention would have on its surroundings.

The application should be refused. RFACFS wished to be consulted on a fresh proposal that should demonstrate a high level of ambition for civic design quality and respond with sensitivity to the historic urban context. If the designers were to incorporate remnants of the demolished building, they should do so with such skill as to ensure a dignified result. Drawings should be provided to show the new building in relation to its surroundings. The design approach should be analysed in a written design statement.

This report has only be made available since November and I only just put two and two together regarding the timing of the presentation to the RFAC. These things take months to set up but if you look at escotregen's starting post in this thread demolition took place on the 28th May while the presentation to the RFAC took place in June. In other words whomever prepared the drawings must have done so before the building was demolished! So they already knew demolition would take place at some point! Bit suspect that and cynical to boot?! Or am I just paranoid?

CC

[Apollo]

On a similar them, I happened to be walking back into Glasgow towards Eglinton St. a while back and made the mistake of looking up at the area between the Kingston Bridge and the Briggait. What an eye opener when you do that and think you're about to see Glasgow as you know it.

This has now been virtually totally demolished and replaced by shiny stuff or open ground. While you can't really see from the bridge, the area to the far side of the Kingston Bridge is just the same too.