Demolition is far from academic

Long wait to fully reopen street after building blaze drags on

Traders on and around Academy St reet in Coatbridge town centre are still waiting for the road to be fully reopened after delays to the longawaited demolition of a fire-damaged building.

Coat bridge North representative Allan Stubbs called the 16- month closure “just ridiculous” after raising the issue and lack of recent progress at the latest full assembly of North Lanarkshire Council.

It has been partially closed off since March 2017 when fire ravaged the building at the junction with Main Street, with a safety exclusion zone meaning there is no vehicle access to or from that junction.

Frustrated business owners told the Advertiser last October how trade and deliveries had been affected.

Council officials had announced in March that contractors appointed by the building owners were due to start a six-week demolition project that month, but the work is yet to be carried out.

North Lanarkshire Council say their current information from the landowner is that “demolition is due to begin shortly”, after procedures including cutting off utilities and moving the nearby taxi rank took “longer than expected”.

Councillor Stubbs told the Advertiser: “All the fences are still up and there’s been no progress whatsoever.

“I’m being contacted every day by people. It’s a disgrace as we were promised that work was starting imminently.

“Businesses are really suffering and they keep being given false hope about what’s happening.

“We’d been expecting work within three weeks of that last council meeting in March, but four months later there’s been no work whatsoever.”

He added: “Look at [ the Sauchiehall Street] fire in Glasgow – the city council ordered demolition within days to make sure streets were opened as quickly as possible.

“My ward colleague, Kirsten Larson, and I have raised this twice at council, had conversations with officials and the enterprise convener, and there have been constant assurances then nothing, not even any updates.

“First it was making utilities safe, then roads. Who or what is going to be next to cause a delay?”

Councillor Stubbs submitted two official questions about the Academy Street closure to the latest North Lanarkshire meeting.

He asked: “What is the explanation that no work has commenced to date, given the commitments made at the last meeting to ensure [demolition] within weeks, and what steps are being taken to ensure this work will be done as a matter of urgency?”

Enterprise convener Allan Graham responded: “The contractor has been appointed by the property owners and before commencing demolition, is progressing the necessary steps to ensure traffic and pedestrian safety and to protect the council’s assets.

“The council met with the contractor to finalise the consents and will promote an emergency road closure immediately thereafter to allow demolition to commence.”

Councillor Stubbs also enquired about the progress of a promised review of procedures for dealing with fire-damaged buildings, and was told a report would be prepared for a future enterprise committee meeting.

A spokesperson for North Lanarkshire Council told the Advertiser this week: “The building owners have appointed a contractor to demolish the firedamaged building.

“Some preparatory work has been carried out, including removing street furniture from Academy Street to allow access to the site.

“There has been considerable work to make arrangements for removing debris, cutting off utility services and relocating the taxi rank, and this has taken longer than expected.

“Council representatives have been liaising with the landowner throughout the process and we understand demolition work is due to begin shortly.”

Fed up Councillor Stubbs, right, pictured with disgruntled business owners last October