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The Centre Cumbernauld

The Centre Cumbernauld
photograph
The Centre Cumbernauld, 2023
map
map
Location within Scotland
General information
Architectural styleBrutalism[1] (formerly)
LocationCumbernauld, Scotland
Current tenants75 tenants[3]
Construction started1963
Opened25 May 1967[2]
OwnerBelgate Estates, Glasgow[3][4]
LandlordGatehouse Property Management, Glasgow[5]
Technical details
Floor countEight[6]
Floor area270,000 sq ft[3]
Design and construction
Architecture firmLeslie Hugh Wilson, Dudley Roberts Leaker[1] Geoffrey Copcutt, Philip Aitken, Neil Dadge[7]
Main contractorCumbernauld Development Corporation[1]
Website
www.thecentrecumbernauld.com

The Centre Cumbernauld (formerly Cumbernauld town centre) is the commercial centre of the new town of Cumbernauld, Scotland. It was designed in the 1950s—as what became known as a megastructure—to be a town centre consisting of "one huge multi-storey building," according to its preliminary planning report, housing shops, apartments, a hotel, ice rink, police station and other amenities.[8]

Phase 1 was completed between 1963 and 1967,[7] and the centre was opened by Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon in May 1967.[2] It was expanded in 2007 by the addition of the Antonine Centre, a shopping centre that is linked to the older structure by walkways and lifts.

The facility has been subject to harsh criticism over the years. It was voted "Britain's most hated building" in 2005, in a poll organised by Channel 4's programme Demolition,[6] and was twice named Scotland's worst town centre by the Carbuncle Awards.[9] The top section of the building has been dubbed by writers including author Caro Ramsay as the "Alien's Head", due to local people observing a resemblance to fictional character E.T.[a]

In March 2022, North Lanarkshire Council announced plans to demolish the building.[14]

  1. ^ a b c "Town centre, Cumbernauld New Town: close-up of the megastructure facade", Royal Institute of British Architects.
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference British Pathé1967 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c "Cumbernauld Town Centre, Cumbernauld", Belgate Estates.
  4. ^ "Cumbernauld shopping complex under threat as rivals claim it derails vision", Evening Times (Glasgow), 12 July 2016.
  5. ^ "Westfield retail park hits unexpected snag after town centre bosses get tough", Cumbernauld News, 28 July 2016.
  6. ^ a b "Cumbernauld tops demolition poll". BBC News. 11 December 2005.
  7. ^ a b John R. Gold, "The making of a megastructure: architectural modernism, town planning and Cumbernauld’s central area, 1955-75", Planning Perspectives, 21, April 2006 (109–131), 121–122. doi:10.1080/02665430600555255
  8. ^ John R. Gold, The Practice of Modernism: Modern Architects and Urban Transformation, 1954–1972, Routledge, 2007, 173.
  9. ^ Cumbernauld, BBC News, 25 May 2012.
  10. ^ "What's it called? Carbuncle-nauld". Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser. 21 November 2001. [T]he centre is topped by a rather unsightly block... Cumbernauld residents dubbed [it] the 'Alien's Head', in homage to ET.
  11. ^ Caro Ramsay (6 December 2013). "What's it called? Cumbernauld!". Murder is Everywhere. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
  12. ^ Kalder, Daniel (28 March 2022). "The heroic failure of Cumbernauld". UnHerd. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  13. ^ Moss, Chris (13 April 2022). "Where tourists seldom tread, part 2: five great UK towns left out of the guidebooks". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 April 2022.
  14. ^ David Leask (10 March 2022). "Cumbernauld's notorious town centre to be demolished and replaced". HeraldScotland. Retrieved 10 March 2022.


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