ALL PHOTOS CLICK FULL SCREEN.
Glasgow's International Financial Services District. One major advantage of Barclays Bank picking Tradeston to build in is plenty of space available. Barclays Bank Complex seen from the IFSD. (Photo below.) With such a large footprint it would be impossible to squeeze it into the few remaining vacant lots here so it was always destined to be located elsewhere and just across the river in Tradeston was the obvious choice.
Unlike the older, tightly packed, financial district across the River Clyde, seen here, in Tradeston there's room to expand further. It was a lovely sunny day when I was walking round these areas and one difference between them was immediately apparent.
In the narrow canyon lands of the older established five to ten floor high office blocks there's seating built to accommodate workers for tea/lunch breaks if they want to sit outside but they are fairly uninviting places. Permanently shady and cold as these areas rarely get any sun at all.
In Tradeston however, despite some graffiti on surrounding hoardings, there's bags of space for seating, flowerbeds, attractive borders, and trees. And on sunny days it gets full sunshine. A riverside view here. And sunshine, especially in a not that warm northern climate makes people happy, even on a short lunch break.
The interior courtyard garden and seating area, just built, and pleasantly sheltered from wind... yet basking in sunshine.
I also like the style of this building, in a variety of different colours and materials. This post is a contrast to the last one, which was all about old buildings and graffiti. I originally thought of 'The Good The Bad and The Ugly' as a post title or 'Kaleidoscope'... but Different Aspects is a better, more accurate description.
They've also managed to save and refurbish some of the original Tradeston buildings, like this one here, incorporating them into the overall Barclays complex. And I noticed walking around that the nearby restaurants/ fast food outlets had spruced up or opened new ones as well, obviously hoping to attract customers with hundreds of potential new recruits right on the doorstep. Apart from Bridge Street, Eglinton Street and Commerce Street the rest of Tradeston looks OK, A proper Trade Town, with cash and carry, warehouses, garages, small businesses and the like. Entrepreneur land. I've only driven through it in the past so I had a good look around it on foot this time. ( I still think my idea of using drones to air paint buildings that are hard to reach via the normal methods (i.e scaffolding) might be a game changer. If they can drop bombs and deliver packages why not create artworks with drones as well? On a windless day of course) As previously depicted on this blog in September 2022 and May 2024. Air painting with drones. Is it possible or practical for certain situations? Not the entire building, paint is too heavy for that, but in limited/ selected eye catching areas. And airbrushed to stop any drips occuring.
A few colourful murals here...
At the Turning Point building...
A Drug and Alcohol rehabilitation unit/centre.
Fantastic and perplexing sculpture details near the roof with loads of carved figures on it. Man fighting an alligator or crocodile here. No idea why. Maybe it was an arsonist? Ah! A fire breathing dragon perhaps?
Female with two birds... Rescued from a house fire maybe? ....and loads more to ponder.
One of these tower buildings used to be a paint factory apparently. There was an empty plot of land nearby so I looked it up out of curiosity.... A link here for potential future plans for the area...
Permission sought for major residential housing project in Tradeston. reglasgow.
I did put a link up but it didn't take for some reason so you'll need to look it up yourself if you want to see the photos which save the listed buildings and add modern housing blocks into the gap site.
It might take a while but plans are afoot for a new version of Tradeston with Barclays Bank getting the ball rolling in the area hopefully encouraging further investment/ development.
I then walked over to the nearby Gorbals District for some more murals. Cumberland Street here.
Benny Lynch, world boxing champion came from this area. Like a lot of sports people/ entertainers once his career ended he struggled with what to do with his life when the training and fight discipline stopped and had problems with alcohol.
This I was not aware of. Pinkerton's founder.
Pinkerton's and Benny Mural.
Hannah Frank. Gorbals Born Artist.
African Restaurant Mural.
The Brazen Head. Celtic pub.
Highland Cow Mural.
Stan Lee and Marvel Characters. Both murals found on the Gorbals Youth and Community Centre building
Some of the modern housing going up in the Gorbals currently. From late 1800s to early1900s tenements...then flattened.... to a hi rise skyscraper estate, multiple tower blocks...then flattened... to modern 2020s architecture like this right here... and I've witnessed it all... and worked in it.
The new Gorbals... 2024 style... and even after 20 years of redevelopment in this area there's still quite a few vacant gap sites with the potential to hold extra housing units if the need arises. Glasgow used to have over one million residents within the city boundary up until the 1960s but now it's dropped and is fairly stable around 636,000 though that figure varies slightly depending on who is counting it and around two million when you include the surrounding urban area. i.e Paisley, Johnstone, Motherwell, Hamilton, Wishaw, Bellshill, etc... Edinburgh however is catching up fast at 500,000.
And they are still building houses here ... decades later. This is the 4th set of housing stock I've seen going up in the Gorbals since the 1960s.
And other buildings nearby still to be demolished....The continual rise and fall, decline and rebuild, of any town or city.
We refurbish a lot of our mills in Yorkshire and turn them into flatblocks - works very well. Had to laugh at your dragon comment - was it built as a fire station though? I like your old architecture - never was a fan of the modern stuff.
ReplyDeleteIf it isn't sunny, I won't sit outside!
Yes, they do that here as well Carol. I think that part of it was purpose built as a fire station, the section with the doors for vehicles but the rest of it I'm not sure about..., may have been housing. The carved sculptures on it are probably classical references, Greek heroes or bible figures as that was in vogue then, late 1800s early 1900s buildings. Come to think of it that's what the Marvel characters are as well, like superman... Greek, Roman or Scandinavian gods/heroes updated for modern times.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, I haven’t wandered about the Barclays area at all.
ReplyDeleteWhy am I anonymous today?! Anabel.
DeleteNo idea Anabel. I haven;t changed anything. Usually when I'm anon it's because I start writing a reply or comment, get halfway through it before I remember to sign in first, or I'm using a different search engine, google for instance, as I can only post stuff ( photos) with that one now.
ReplyDeleteI tried to look up more about the South Fire Station and got sidetracked by reading of all the fires over the years. There is a Firefighters Memorial Walk in Glasgow, have you written of it before? Firefighters, or Firemen, as I always called them as a child, are heroic people.
ReplyDeleteHi Kay, Yes, there is a firefighters walk. I've done most of it on other walks by chance but not followed it deliberately. Glasgow had a lot of fires due to it being a port city so loads of factories and warehouses storing materials, flour mills, cotton and tobacco from the USA etc... plus crowded tenements and a densely packed population attracted by plentiful jobs in the docks, factories and shipyards. Bob. BSS.
ReplyDelete