Cumbernauld Town Centre tops 'Demolition' poll

Throughout December, Channel 4 broadcast, ‘Demolition’, a series which investigates how the UK has come to be littered with unused, rundown or ugly buildings.

Earlier in the year, viewers had voted in their thousands to nominate the ‘eyesores’ they wanted to see demolished. Within the top 12, were two Scottish nominations, the ever controversial Scottish Parliament Building – also winner of the 2005 Stirling Prize for architecture – and topping the poll, Cumbernauld Town Centre.

Hearing arguments from all angles, the programme has looked at the history and development of these buildings and the affect they have had on people’s everyday lives. Having uncovered strong feelings relating to how we feel about our built environment, the programme’s producers are now looking at the possibility of an X-list initiative. If a building was placed on an X-list, its demolition process would be speeded up through financial and planning incentives.

Love them or hate them, Scran holds a wealth of images relating to both of these nominated buildings. All of these are copyright cleared for use in education and can be used in the teaching of Architecture, Modern Studies, Geography and Citizenship.

Teachers who are interested in arranging FREE CPD on how to use Scran in their teaching, should contact Lee McCulley, Educational Development Officer on 0131 662 1211 or lee.mcculley@scran.ac.uk