Motherwell tower block meets explosive demise
November 21 2011
Thousands of local residents were evacuated from their homes to allow the Sunday afternoon blow down to take place safely, clearing the way to accommodate the latest phase of a £75m project to build 500 new homes across North Lanarkshire.
Technical Demolition Services carried out the blow down, which resulted in just one cracked window.
Former tenant Colin Campbell added, "It's been a nostalgic and emotional day for myself and probably for a number of local people. Having lived in and grown up in the tower I have many fond memories of the building, particularly as my dad was one of the caretakers there.
"It was spectacular to see and I'm sure the new houses planned for the tower site will make a positive difference to the local area."
Glencairn Tower was the largest of 49 tower blocks in the North Lanarkshire region.
All images taken by North Lanarkshire Council
Motherwell's skyline will never be the same again
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6 Comments
#1 Posted by Kenneth on 21 Nov 2011 at 21:05 PM
500 affordable home? Surely you mean 50. The site is certainly not big enough for 500...
#2 Posted by Peter G on 22 Nov 2011 at 09:55 AM
Kenneth, I agree surely it must be 50 homes? But you never know, if a boll..k is dropped in the public sector a clown cries out 'lessons have been learnt', but they seldom have been, so they may try and stuff lots of social housing in there to meet a target.
#3 Posted by david nimmo on 22 Nov 2011 at 17:09 PM
Good riddance.
Perhaps they could look at how Motherwell town centre could be knitted back together after its ignorant and illiterate destruction in the 70's. If Post-Modernism achieved nothing else it made soviet style projects like the above unacceptable.
Perhaps they could look at how Motherwell town centre could be knitted back together after its ignorant and illiterate destruction in the 70's. If Post-Modernism achieved nothing else it made soviet style projects like the above unacceptable.
#4 Posted by urbanrealm on 23 Nov 2011 at 11:35 AM
Glencairn is one element of a wider 500 home ‘Building for the future’ capital program across North Lanarkshire - not as originally implied on this one specific site.
Glencairn housed 160 flats prior to its demise.
Glencairn housed 160 flats prior to its demise.
#5 Posted by h.a. on 25 Nov 2011 at 10:35 AM
the building was awful, no doubt about that, but I am sure that the next one won´t be any better. In 30 years time we can demolish and start again...this policy of demolish and start from scratch is a mistake. Recycle please!
#6 Posted by Brian on 1 Dec 2011 at 09:39 AM
Heroin Heights gone eh.thank goodness.
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