Airdrie & Coatbridge Advertiser
Demolition at last for fire-ravaged building
Completion of work will allow road to reopen
A fire-damaged building in Coatbridge town centre is finally to be demolished – allowing for the reopening of a busy road which has been closed to through traffic for a year.
The prominent building, on the corner of Main Street and Academy Street, was ravaged by flames in March 2017, with firefighters needing three hours to extinguish the blaze.
A safety exclusion zone has been in place ever since, which has meant that Academy Street treet has had no vehicle access to or from its Main Street junction, with nearby businesses suffering.
Local traders submitted a petition to North Lanarkshire e Council five months ago o calling for the immediate e demolition of the damaged d building and reopening of f the road. Now a six-week demolition
ish project is to get underway this week, with Coatbridge North councillor Allan Stubbs saying ying it’s “about time”.
He told the Advertiser: “I’m delighted for the businesses as they’ve suffered really badly so I’m pleased as this seems to be a step in the right direction and I hope Academy Street will be back up and running soon.
“Nobody thought when the fire happened that we’d still be sitting here today with the damaged building in place and the road still closed.
“The business owners have been desperate for answers as to why this has taken so long. There was talk that this would be done before Christmas and then no explanation as to why there were delays.”
Frustrated traders told the Advertiser last October how they had been impacted by the road closure, as they called for the damaged building to be demolished straight away with legal and financial discussions between its owners and the council to be concluded afterwards.
All of the Academy Street’s businesses have remained open but since the fire, only one of its pavements is accessible and the only traffic access is via Baird Street.
Petition organiser Cliff Kesley, the owner of Granny’s Kitchen, had said: “It looks to customers as if the street is closed completely – we saw footfall reduce by 20 to 25 per cent in the first two weeks after the barriers went up.
“Suppliers struggle to get back out when they’ve come in for deliveries, and people are realising it’s a hassle to reach here in the car and they can’t get parked.
“This street has really taken the brunt of the closure and having it closed for this length of time flies in the face of a commitment to town-centre regeneration.”
Councillor Stubbs and fellow SNP ward representative Kirsten Larson plan to submit a motion on the topic for debate at tomorrow’s meeting of North Lanarkshire Council, saying: “It’s up to the council to review this and learn lessons from it.
“Fires will happen and sometimes the buildings can sit there for years afterwards, but it’s one thing if it’s at the back of an industrial estate somewhere, and quite another when it happens in the town centre or another busy area and causes massive disruption.
“We need to develop a process as the council’s hands have been tied, but there needs to be a way to deal with something like this happening.”
North Lanarkshire officials have been working with the building owners on the demolition plans, saying in November that the situation had been “complicated by the number of owners involved and the associated legal issues.”
A spokesperson said this week: “We carried out emergency work to make the building safe, in line with statutory powers, while the owners decided what action was to be taken.
“Contractors will start on-site by the end of March, and letters have been sent to surrounding properties to inform them of the work.
“The walls of adjacent properties will be protected and covered to ensure they remain wind and watertight following the demolition.
“After demolition, the site will be levelled and a fence erected along the line of the former building onto Main Street and Academy Street. The latter will then be reopened.”