Anderston Centre
| Anderston Centre | |
|---|---|
| Anderston Cross Commercial Centre | |
The Anderston Centre (west elevation) in 2011.
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| Alternative names | Blythswood Court Cadogan Square |
| General information | |
| Status | Complete |
| Type | Mixed-use: residential, office & bus station (former) & car park. |
| Architectural style | Brutalist |
| Address | Cadogan Street / Argyle Street |
| Town or city | Anderston, Glasgow |
| Country | Scotland |
| Coordinates | 55°51′36″N 4°16′0″W / 55.86000°N 4.26667°WCoordinates: 55°51′36″N 4°16′0″W / 55.86000°N 4.26667°W |
| Construction started | 1968 |
| Completed | 1972 |
| Opened | 1973 |
| Renovated | 1994-present |
| Owner |
Glasgow City Council Taylor Wimpey |
| Height | 153 feet (47 m) |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Pre-cast Concrete |
| Floor count | 19 |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Richard Seifert |
| Main contractor | Myton |
The Anderston Centre (originally styled as the Anderston Cross Commercial Centre, but now officially branded as Cadogan Square) is a mixed-use commercial and residential complex, and former bus station located in the Anderston area of Glasgow, Scotland. Completed in 1972 and designed by Richard Seifert (best known for London's famous Centre Point and NatWest Tower), it is one of the earliest examples of the "megastructure" style of urban renewal scheme fashionable in the 1950s and 1960s - the other notable example in Scotland being the infamous Cumbernauld Town Centre development. The complex is a notable landmark on the western edge of Glasgow city centre, and is highly visible from the adjacent Kingston Bridge.
The complex was voted at Position #54 in the Prospect magazine's top 100 Scottish post-modern buildings. After falling into partial dereliction in the 1990s, the megastructure has undergone major redevelopment with some elements demolished and replaced, and others comprehensively refurbished.
Following the Bruce Report in 1946, Anderston was declared a Comprehensive Development Area (CDA) by Glasgow Corporation, owing to the area having been badly scarred by the city's industrial decline. Much of the housing in the area had become overcrowded, insanitary and had deteriorated into a slum. The Bruce proposals had called for the construction of a system of inner urban motorway - which would emerge as the Glasgow Inner Ring Road and the Clydeside Expressway. The new Anderston would have its population and slums cleared, and then trisected by these roads into three zones, a Residential Zone on the western side of the motorway, consisting of high-rise deck access public housing blocks, an Industrial Zone on the westernmost extreme bordering with Stobcross and Finnieston, and a Commercial Zone on the eastern side bordering the city centre with Blythswood Hill. Richard Seifert won the commission for the flagship development of the Commercial Zone - which was one of the practice's largest outside London. The plan would be to effectively create a superblock out of the area bounded by Argyle Street, Blythswood Street, Newton Street, and Waterloo Street, and replace the existing buildings with a megastructure which would combine shops, housing, offices and a bus station, which would effectively replace Anderston Cross - the original heart of the area which was literally wiped off the map to make way for the ring road. Seifert's other commission for the area was the Elmbank Gardens office tower built 0.5 km to the north in neighbouring Charing Cross, which also survives to the present day as a Premier Inn hotel.
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