EAST KILBRIDE PHOTO ESSAY - EAST KILBRILLIANT

I’ve been living in East Kilbride for a while now, since last winter. Scotland’s first planned town is a curious town indeed. Also known as EK, Polo Mint City, East KilBumInTheAir, East Kilbrilliant… Cille Bhrìghde an Ear…

Designated Scotland's first "new town" in 1947, it is the largest new town and Scotland’s 6th biggest town with a population of 75,000. Settlements in the area go back to the late Neolithic.

EK is host to the largest shopping centre in the country. The centre comprises several Malls, including Plaza, Olympia and Princes Mall. It covers over 1 million square feet. Look at it on google maps, it is massive. It houses an ice rink, an IMAX cinema, enormous retail space, a 12 story tower and 3000 car parking spaces.

The newest part of the centre built in 2001 is due to be pulled down along with large parts of the Olympia Mall completed in 1989. A £62.2 million, 10-year masterplan to transform the centre into a mixed-use urban environment is slated to begin sometime in 2026.

Regeneration plans can be viewed here https://eklife.co.uk/news/bold-vision-for-new-town/

The architects for this project are Threesixty Architects.
https://www.360architecture.com/project/east-kilbride-town-centre-vision/

An abandoned unicorn floats free to the roof of the Olympia Mall. It appears to be galloping emancipated across an arc of beautifully arranged sythetic foliage. Hemmed in and caged by acrylic sky lights and upvc gutter pipes it will never be truly free.
It’s an allegory for my people.

Photos in this section - Faux Aerochrome Infrared - Nikon D800 - Zeiss Distagon 25mm

I believe all of this will be demolished in the proposed regeneration.

Sun cracked black out vinyl, surrounded by tiny cream mosaic tiles.

St Mark’s Episcopal Church - Designed by Richard M. Noad & A. F. Wallace; completed 1957. Some archive photos here trove.scot

Self Explanitory

THE RAMADA - PLAZA TOWER (1971) - MAMIYA RB67 - SEKOR K/L 90mm - FUJI 400h (medium format film)

For a long time, portions of the Plaza Tower were used as offices. At one point, HM Revenue & Customs maintained a tax-processing and enquiries operation in Queensway House and also had offices in Plaza Tower which closed around 2020. In 2017 the upper floors were turned in to the Ramada Hotel after a £6m redevelopment, the hotel now takes up floors 8, 9, 10, and 12. Not sure what’s going on in floor 11? I’m really keen to book a room here one night, the top floor bar shines like a glamorous diamond on the horizon in the winter.

Thankfully this carpark and the plaza tower will be retained in the planned regeneration. Although the tower itself is no architectural tour de force I must say I think the carpark is. It’s just so uncompromisingly brutalist.

DIGITAL PHOTOS I TOOK BEFORE MOVING TO EK

East Kilbride Civic Centre - Designed by Scott Fraser & Browning, 1966. Lots of speculation about what will happen to this building, I believe it is currently up for sale. I think it’s days are numbered .

This article by Modern Mooch is good.

The photo the council have used on this webpage says a lot.

Archive photos can be found at trove.scot

The Dollan Aqua Centre - An absolute architectural triumph and one of the main reasons I moved here. It has a 50 metre Pool and is named after former Lord Provost Sir Patrick Dollan. Designed by Alexander Buchanan Campbell who was influenced by the architecture of Japans Kenzo Tange and his design for the 1964 Yoyogi National Gymnasium.

I love the kids free running on the building in this shot, the skate park is on the right next to the pool and there are often scenes of high jinx going on up here. The moody sky and the arrangement of lamp posts all contributing to depth and scale. Sadly the flume is no longer structurally sound and is fenced off, though people clearly get in there and party. Every time I come here swimming I’m somewhat dismayed by the lack of maintenance on this A listed building, it’s so mouldy and birch trees are growing on its roof. The first time I saw this place I was gobsmacked it’s like someone dropped a robot spider from space.

I have found this archive of images and detailed architectural plans on Historic Environment Scotland’s website trove.scot

This concrete play sculpture originally resided in princes square in the town centre and was moved toTown Centre Park to the north of the Dollan Aqua Centre. There was Young Communist League graffiti on the retaining wall here, hence the colour scheme.

Olympia Mall - Southern Entrance

Built in 1984, This architectural abomination leads into the ice rink. At first I was baffled by the strange steel frame gantries that run the length of it, they seem to serve no purpose but I believe they used to house giant light boxes which lit up at night, the windows are mirrored so maybe it looked totally futuristic in the 80’s. In the architectural drawing they are housing planters, so not sure what they actual got used for, now they are just a confusing reminder of an idea that didn’t work. This phase of the shopping centre includes a mental steel frame carpark and a night club, the neon signs for the night club are still there and should probably be saved. I’m not sure if this is getting pulled down in the redevelopment but I really hope it does, it’s just awful round this bit, the bingo hall and the service yards are just total shit.

The defunct Flume of the Dollan Aqua Centre, I love how fucked these bollards are, looking at them I was convinced a truck had reversed into them but I’ve seen kids in other areas of the city work pretty hard on re-shaping other civil infrastructure. In Calton I saw kids repeatedly jumping on a traffic island fence until it’s cross bar was bent right down to the bottom section. Dedication for sure, but to what? Given the corrosion on these I can perceive that youths have in fact perfected this tilt over time.

The first flat I looked to buy in Easy Kilbride was in this building, I liked it but probably could not have afforded it.

I took this photo well before I even had the means to move and it’s strange that one of the dingiest corners I had found was exactly where I forst looked at a house. The flat was really nice inside but the entrance ways, back court and refuse areas were absolutely third world, pretty mad that it was too expensive for me.

I WILL CONTINUE TO DOCUMENT THIS AS It IS DEMOLISHED & REDEVELOPED, DREAMING OF EPIC NIGHT SHOTS IN THE FOG

FURTHER READING:

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A series of .pdfs on the Architects of East Kilbride. Interestingly the development corporation kept details of what architects designed what secret, in an effort to quell local rivalries between the various ‘villages’ - this egalitarian approach is quite laudable and speaks of the new social order these new towns were striving for.
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/archives-and-research/publications/publication/?publicationid=9f8dc855-3ff9-4654-8e71-a8bd00a4b857


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Historic Environment Scotland’s website Trove is pretty amazing, so full of stuff… Here’s the search for East Kilbride.
https://www.trove.scot/search?q=east%2Bkilbride&page_type=Digital%20Images&viewmode=grid

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Archive photos of the Bruce Hotel, which now houses asylum seekers.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/lifestyle/14421719.in-pictures-ek-memories-the-bruce-hotel-mid-70s-and-80s/

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Film made by the devopment corporate to mark it’s dissolution in 1996
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5MS80uMMQ


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Slyvia Grace Borda ia canadian artist who made a book called EK Modernism in the 2000’s
http://www.sylviagborda.com/ek-modernism.html


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Glasgow Times series of archive photos.
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/14539265.in-pictures-final-part-of-our-east-kilbride-plaza-shopping-centre-photo-memories-series/
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/14498335.amp/
https://www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/14445861.IN_PICTURES__NEW_East_Kilbride_Memories_photo_archive_Part_02/


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The Heralds archive photo series of East Kilbride
https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/14450195.pictures-new-east-kilbride-memories-photo-archive-part-03/

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And of course the local Facebook history page, lots of great posts, loads of shite comments.
https://www.facebook.com/EKHistory

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