January 16 2024

An at-risk former cinema may have skirted demolition by the skin of its teeth after planning officers issued a building preservation notice (BPN).

The decision means the building owners, Allied Vehicles, must immediately halt demolition work pending further assessment from Historic Environment Scotland (HES), effectively placing a demolition warrant issued just before Christmas on ice for 6 months.

Last week HES declined to list the structure on procedural grounds, equating the demolition warrant to 'advanced development proposals', dashing expectations that it would be C-listed. The issue of a building preservation notice upends that equation.

In a statement, Glasgow City Council explained: "Planning officers have instructed the service of the BPN to allow for Historic Environment Scotland to undertake a further assessment following which it is anticipated (repeat, anticipated) that they will list the building. The officers have contacted the owners and informed them of the service of this notice, highlighted that unauthorised alterations or demolition of the structure would now be an offence and requested that they halt demolition works at this time.

"The building will effectively become listed whilst HES proceed to assess it for listing in the context of the BPN. HES have six months to complete their review and this would also include consultation on any proposed designation. We have requested that HES expedite this assessment. Any decision to list the building would then be subject to appeal to Ministers."

G&J Demolition began dismantling the cinema on 8 January, removing the roof and much of the rear elevation but the primary facade remains intact, sparking hopes that it can still be saved.

Campaigner Callum Forrester said: "There is no guarantee that when the cinema is demolished the site will even be developed. The owners demolished the former bus depot on Hawthorn Street similarly and never developed the site, which is now just a car park. They have so much spare ground in the area that if they did have a genuine interest in developing, they have many vacant sites to choose from and do not require to demolish local heritage assets to achieve this."

There are no live planning applications for the site at 124 Balmore Road, nor have any pre-application consultations taken place.

12 Comments

#1 Posted by Ghetto King on 17 Jan 2024 at 09:22 AM

With the "removing the roof and much of the rear elevation" it appears to be a done thing by the owners.

How long before the owners advise that the rest of the building needs to be razed due to safety concerns but are stopped from doing so and then do not carry out the necessary remedial work due to financial restrictions?

#2 Posted by 1st hour incompetence on 17 Jan 2024 at 09:55 AM

What an absolute farce. There's so much to be frustrated by in this story.

Even if the building is eventaully listed, the roof is already off. Doubtless AV will find unending reasons to delay and demure its reinstatement until the rain and cold undermines the structure and they have a good enough excuse to flatten it. How many times have we seen this play out in Glasgow before?

If the planning officers looking at the project see the value in the building and have instructed the BPN, why was the demolition warrant granted in the first place? Any by Whom?

Were this in the South of England, where you can't take five paces without tripping over a listed building or scheduled monument, the BPN would have been served at the first suggestion of demolition to allow proper time for evaluation.

Surely doing it this way round is even more of a headache for everyone involved. The planners have to backtrack and double their work, AV have to stop and delay mid-demolition, and HES have to evaluate the significance of a half demolished building.

Glasgow's planning authority need to sort their process out. Arguably, anything that could be called a 'historic' building should, by default, be subject to a light-touch appraisal by HES as part of the planning consultation.

#3 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 17 Jan 2024 at 11:09 AM

Is every 1930's cinema now going to be served with a BPN so that a listing investigation can be carried out?

How many examples of this architecture are left in Glasgow / left in Scotland and are they all to be saved?

A more pressing problem would be the language skills of the Council -- their statement would invoke the UN Torture legislation if they were ever to read it.

Plus you have the Manufacturing industry angle -- not a lot of it about in Glasgow -- and here we have a company giving it a go and all the student politician's care about is a piece of poor quality design from the 1930's.

Same immature student politics that thinks industrial and economic development will come through the Avenues Project rather than offering a growing local company some support to build a new assembly hall / modern offices / signature design showroom on a highly visible street corner.

I wonder if the Avenues Project will ever make it to Balmore Road?

#4 Posted by Red Tape on 17 Jan 2024 at 11:38 AM

1st hour incompetence - you do not need planning permission to demolish a building, just a demolition warrant, which is applied for to the Building Control Department, not the Planning Department, and as its the Cooncil, then the two departments do not speak, also the chances are it was delt with from the officers spare bedroom between loading the washing machine and unloading the dish washer.

#5 Posted by 1st hour incompetence on 17 Jan 2024 at 13:04 PM

#4 Forgive my ignorance but is that really the case? While I understand you don't need a formal planning approval to demolish, in other parts of the country the 'prior approval' required to demolish anything over 50 cubic meters can only be granted once the proposal has passed perfunctory checks by the planning department, even if the application was submitted through building control. Is that not the case in Glasgow?

#6 Posted by Annie Malone on 17 Jan 2024 at 13:34 PM

#4 that is incorrect. Demolition requires applicants to go through the prior notification/approval planning process in Scotland. Im surprised you don't know this "Red Tape".....

#7 Posted by Posso Fleeto on 17 Jan 2024 at 20:06 PM

#3 Fat Bloke, how many 1930s cinemas are there in Glasgow that aren't currently listed? This is the only one as far as I know. Historic Scotland has said it is worth listing, so are the government experts immature too?

You mention 'a new assembly hall / modern offices / signature design showroom on a highly visible street corner' is there a planning application for this? I haven't seen anything. The normal thing to do is to apply for planning permission before you demolish a building, unless of course you are at it and trying to thwart a listing of the building but ended up getting caught with your trousers down.

The best thing to do is for the owner to come back with a new plan to keep the frontage as part of any redevelopment and then everyone is happy.

#8 Posted by Fat architect in a black shirt on 19 Jan 2024 at 13:15 PM

I feel sorry for the owners.
They have owned this ugly building for many years and for 99% of that time it has been vacant.

Think of the Business Rates they will have paid on this lump during that time. Had it been listed (and there has been plenty of time for any of the recent handwringers to request that) - it would have been zero rated for Rates. The owners would still have had utility connection costs, insurance and maintenance costs - but not Rates.

Sadly this building is in Possil - where it must be nearly impossible to "magic up" an alternate use that would make money for the owners.

As we say in Glasgow - You canny polish a jobbie - but you can roll it in glitter. But this building would need a mountain of glitter.

Lastly - they did the right thing and obtained a legally valid Demo warrant on an unlisted building, got started - then the same department forces them to stop. I hope they crack on and take GCC to court - or we will all have to fear similar "Stop orders" for any future demolitions.

BTW - I have no connection to the owners.

#9 Posted by Callum on 19 Jan 2024 at 13:42 PM

#8 They have leased the shop for almost the entire time they have owned it and used the back hall as a garage. It has not been vacant.

It was also really quite attractive prior to Allied Vehicles' ownership of it and their removals of the details and garish paint jobs has made it the mess that it is today. Thankfully HES have been able to look past this.

They were well aware that the building was going through the listing process and were dead set on thwarting the process by demolishing within the consideration period. While this was absolutely legal, it was disingenuous in its intent.

#10 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 19 Jan 2024 at 13:44 PM

#7 -- if we have so many of them why do 30's cinemas need to be listed?

Many have mutated into bingo halls so all we are left with is a formulaic frontage / a low cost 30's big box shed / a new shiny interior.

In the 2070's will we be listing any remaining B+Qs?

The Balmore Road unit is a very poor example of the design style with very poor positioning and no integration with its surroundings.

No reason to retain apart from cheap headlines and a large bucket of overworked sentimentality.

Other comments suggest an over emotional mindset and an inability to understand how the real world can operate. The owners have followed the rules and been caught up in a bureaucracy at war with itself with hobby horsers desperate for publicity.

Not good.

#11 Posted by Fat Bloke on Tour on 19 Jan 2024 at 13:48 PM

#8 -- I think the building has been used for office space in the recent past. Some comments in their news articles point to various admin / design functions being located there.

Not sure the exact timeline but it has been used for cheap office space in living memory after the Bingo crew moved out to a modern unit along the street.

#12 Posted by Posso Fleeto on 19 Jan 2024 at 15:48 PM

We don't have many of them - the 1930s depression means that Glasgow hasn't got much art deco. And why shouldn't all buildings of merit be listed? Glasgow has probably too few listed buildings compared to Edinburgh, and there's very little left of the historic environment in Possilpark.

You say it's a bad example, clearly Historic Environment Scotland disagree. What would be a good example? And in the real world there are hundreds of examples of facades being retained that would work on this site.

You mention hobby horsers looking for publicity, who is that?

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