Stewart Paterson: Glasgow is demolition city as our heritage disappears

Barely a week goes by without another proposal to knock down another old building.

In the last week there have been two making the news. An old 19th century warehouse in Cranstonhill and now the old sawmill offices, from the 1930s, in Temple near the Forth and Clyde Canal.

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There are demolition projects in the city centre making way for big developments. Whole blocks have disappeared for hotels and offices and some for flats.

In Argyle Street, in Trongate and Candleriggs properties, long empty and derelict and allowed to decay have been reduced to rubble, sites cleared and build work underway for new developments.

It is not just the old that is being torn down. The owners of Buchanan Galleries are planning to bring down the shopping centre that was only opened in 1998.

Many of these old buildings have been left to rot.

They are owned by someone, or some company, who have maintained ownership in the hope of a pay day down the line but in too many cases they have not maintained the property they own and are responsible for.

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All over the city it looks like heritage assets are being squandered for a property owner to cash in down the line when the right offer and proposal comes along.

Buildings that are derelict for a long time are more than just an eyesore, they are depressing for the people who live nearby.

Studies have shown that people who live near derelict land and buildings are likely to express feelings of depression.

The owners of these buildings don’t live across the street and don’t need to see them every day or think about them.

Instead, they are something that they hope will turn into hard cash someday.

The question we should be asking is ‘why are we letting them away with it?’

If you are a land or building owner then there should be a legal duty to maintain it, to protect its structural integrity to ensure it can be brought back into use at any time.

If owners are not willing to agree then they are surely not the right people to be trusted with ownership.

There are more than 100 building in Glasgow on the Buildings at Risk register, all over the city.

One of them is the old sawmill offices on Bearsden Road in Temple, mentioned above. It has been left to rot for the last two decades.

Sadly, it is not the only example.

A walk through the city centre shows that among the wonderful architecture in Glasgow there are some properties that look like they will be next for the wrecking ball.

They will no doubt at some point be replaced with characterless glass and steel office or new residential developments.

Buildings which may well be modern in design and efficient in energy and use of space but have little or no architectural merit.

It is not only private developers who are guilty of neglect.

A case in point is the old Springburn Public Halls, left derelict for a quarter of a century, despite campaigns to refurbish it then torn down quickly before the community knew what was going on.

The old Whiteinch Burgh Hall is a sorry sight and appears to be heading in the same direction.

These buildings are left for so long that they become dangerous and must be demolished.

Glasgow has a rich social history, envied by other cities.

It’s people, it’s happenings and its places.

Part of that character is the built environment. Glasgow’s architectural splendour is not limited to the Mitchell Library, City Chambers and Kelvingrove Art Galleries.

It’s not even only about the celebrated architects and designers of the past like Mackintosh or Thomson.

It can be found all over the city in tenements, and the old public libraries like Maryhill and Woodside, in old community halls, like the Dixon Hall in Crosshill or the Couper Institute.

It is found in the industrial past like the Sawmill at the canal or the warehouse in Cranstonhill that is to disappear.

These places are more than just stone and slate, they are history part of a city’s story and should be protected.

For years, though various owners they stood, serving a purpose for a city and its communities.

If the current owners are only interested in them because they see the potential for the land on which they sit and who see the buildings themselves as a barrier to the profit they hope to realise, then perhaps they should be relieved of their ownership.

It is clear that the current system of listed buildings is insufficient to protect the build heritage.

Is it time for Glasgow to establish a city commission to identify its buildings that are of historical and cultural importance?

Then, highlight those which are at risk and ensure the owners are either working towards a plan to bring them into use, if not maintain them to a standard that ensures they can be used.

If not use compulsory purchase orders to take them from them.

The alternative is a city that is disappearing before our very eyes.