2008 Judges notes

Coatbridge Town Centre
Most Dismal Town in Scotland
Coatbridge is like many small towns in the area, blighted by economic decline, strange traffic management policies and poor retail facilities. However, some places seem to handle their problems better than others. Coatbridge’s Quadrant shopping centre looks like is was lifted directly from the set of Camberwick Green.

A new clock tower, which looks as if it was designed on the back of a beer mat, marks the town centre, a throw- away gesture compounded by the addition of some appalling public art- cum street furniture. Directly opposite the visitor is confronted with a dark and dingy public square and a derelict swimming pool. The main street has been resurfaced in an effort to create a pedestrian friendly space, but the floor covering is too fussy and seems to attract more than its fair share of gum and fag butts.

Springfield Quay, Glasgow
Most Disappointing Building
The panel felt that the developers, architect and the local authority missed a real opportunity to use the latest developments at Springfield Quay to establish a good link between the entertainment park and the river. The first phase of Springfield Quay was developed before the city had a strategic approach to the riverfront, but in recent years council leaders have stressed that the high quality design and new public walkways along the Clyde are crucial for city development. Instead the new Etap hotel and Casino are sad excuses for buildings.

The Casino, a big silver box, blocks views to the river. There does not appear to have been any thought devoted to how the very large new building might relate to the river. Springfield Quay is at its best in darkness, but even then it lacks glitz, and in the day it’s dismal. It is an important resource for Glasgow’s southsiders.

It could be Glasgow’s answer to London’s South Bank or even Las Vegas. Instead it has all the charm of a failing retail park. The car parking needs to be organised properly in multi-stories or underground. Recent developments have reduced pedestrian access to the site rather than improving it.

Edinburgh Waterfront
Everyone had such high hopes for Granton, Western Harbour and Leith– it was to be Edinburgh’s new New Town – close to both the city and the forth valley landscape – a new neighbourhood combining luxury leisure and affordable homes. Instead it’s an un-coordinated hodge-podge – more like the kind of dreary market driven estates you might find on the periphery of Bejing, than a thoughtful addition to a small historic city.

The strategic thinking and Barcelona-like boulevards have come to nothing- in Leith they wrap their fish in developers’ master plans – its yesterday’s news. Isolated pockets of development sit sadly waiting for some infrastructure. The small amount of award winning architecture that has been built to set exemplary standards is largely ignored, and feels out of place among the careless estates produced by the volume house builders.

How could Edinburgh get it so horribly wrong?

Cumbernauld’s Antonine Centre
Was dubbed a ‘rabbit warren on stilt’ by past Carbuncle judges – now it’s hidden its stilts – but it’s hardly raised its game. The new shopping centre compares unfavorably with other centers visited. It’s cheap, over illuminated and it links into the existing shopping in a particularly boorish fashion, cutting of the tops of some of the shop front signage. It’s hard to know how long the old shopping centre will last now.

The exterior of the Antonine is about as unimaginative as they come the facades look as it they been lifted straight from a DIY suppliers’ catalogue and they provide a hostile frontage to the public buildings to the south. So much for the shopping centre producing a new town centre, the panel wasn’t even allowed to take photographs; it’s certainly not a public space.

Oatlands, Glasgow
The regeneration of the Gorbals is held up around the world as an exemplary piece of urban design and development. So what happened to its neighbor in Oatlands? Far from learn from the Crown Street experience the city council decided to give the entire area to one developer Betts Homes, now Gladedale. In return for the land which was owned by the local authority, Betts are committed to building more than 1000 homes, a new road, a pub, shops, a public hall, the social housing and to undertake work to Richmond Park. The Council clearly felt Betts were offering a good deal, but it may have been a false economy. So far the new Oatlands is not looking anything like the new Gorbals. Even thought the urban design approach is endorsed in the Scottish Executive’s Advice note 67 on Housing Quality, the process has produced a dismal result so far.

Opposite the new social housing on Fauldhouse Way sits the old council tenement blocks. The council had put aside money to Compulsory purchase flats from the odd recalcitrant home-owner – but something has gone wrong – several blocks are boarded and derelict, but the odd occupant remains – it’s like something out of a war zone. Worse still, even in its semi-derelict state the old council houses look solid and substantial beside the new two-storey homes for rent. The new Oatlands is a tragedy. Handing over this size of development to one single house builder and expecting them to provide all of the public amenity too boot – flies in the face of good practice.

Cumnock, East Ayrshire
Cumnock in East Ayrshire has a rich history, steeped in the religious turmoil of the Scottish reformation. One of the leaders of the Covenant movement, Alexander Peden was born not far from Cumnock, and is buried in the town’s cemetery. He died on the run from the authorities; his body was exhumed and brought back to Cumnock. Despite its rich history and attractive surrounding countryside, today it’s a sorry, unlovely, neglected and forgotten place. The main street has become neglected the shops can’t cater for locals everyday needs. No effort appears to have been made to halt the process of desertion. There are no real public places - even the local café is unwelcoming.