Black day for Lochgelly as Fife Council press ahead with park pavilions
February 2 2017
Approved plans for the £1.1m replacement visitor hub include a café, toilets and education suites to improve facilities for up to 600,000 people who visit the 1,200 acre park every year but far from providing a ‘welcoming gateway’ some have branded it a ‘Carbuncle’.
Tweeting his disapproval of the approved scheme Tom Kinnaird wrote: “Are these the ugliest, most expensive buildings in the UK? Save us from Fife Council please! These buildings must be Carbuncle Award winners. Not fit for Lochore Meadows Country Park.”
In promoting the scheme however Fife Council stated: “In terms of the statutory Local Plan, it is advocated that the proposed new park centre is, on balance, an appropriate development at this location, where the tangible benefits to the local economy outweigh any impact on the local landscape with the decision to build over the existing footprint.”
The low maintenance pavilions utilise a black cladding system evocative of coal mining undertaken in the area prior to land remediation work in the 1970s. Entrance spaces will be defined by projecting timber or composite panels.
The visitor centre will be joined by a sister sports pavilion costed at £670k, offering facilities for local golf and football clubs.
Dark cladding has been specified to evoke memories of coal mining
Protesters are holding out hope that they can prevent this golf pavilion from darkening their park at the eleventh hour
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4 Comments
#1 Posted by CJB on 2 Feb 2017 at 15:25 PM
Why did the council bother consulting the local community with regards to the aesthetic design if they aren’t going to take on board there feedback?
#2 Posted by Dorothy Law on 2 Feb 2017 at 18:18 PM
We know were are a former mining community, we don't need black buildings to evoke the memories. Many of us can still remember the big black bings that scarred our landscape and the black lungs of the miners who had their lives shortened. Something more tasteful should have been chosen to remember those men who are no longer here to tell the tale .
#3 Posted by Tom Kinnaird on 3 Feb 2017 at 22:28 PM
A Fife Council Executive Councillor tells the Council Executive Committee that this building would be on Channel 4's Grand Designs. I'm not so sure Kevin McCloud would be seen endorsing this. https://youtu.be/wdoQZ4PCVGM
#4 Posted by urbanrealm on 6 Feb 2017 at 10:00 AM
The designs have been amended a little since the initial planning application. I've posted the latest iteration here
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