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Post by markinchman on Jan 27, 2009 19:35:25 GMT 1
The Carbuncle Awards this year have Glenrothes in their final 3 against New Cumnock and Motherwell. I don't think they could have used a worse picture but what they say about it is mostly valid. www.thecarbuncles.co.uk - get voting on one of the others at least so we don't come first! |
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Post by markinchman on Jan 29, 2009 11:59:38 GMT 1
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Post by Mark on Jan 29, 2009 12:34:41 GMT 1
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Post by westside on Jan 29, 2009 14:55:35 GMT 1
have there got this right? well look at Kirkcaldy! or even Dunfermline.
bugger it all 3 should get it! place there local cinema in the town, I wonder if the one in kirkcaldy will get built!
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Post by Mark on Jan 29, 2009 15:42:49 GMT 1
out of the three on the shortlist (New Cumnock, Motherwell and Glenrothes) New Cumnock would win hands down if they were looking solely for the most run-down, desolate town. When I was working for Carlsberg I had accounts in Motherwell and New Cumnock, and it's one of those small towns that's just completely run out of steam and waiting to die. So I suppose this at least means Glenrothes has some potential to get better.
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Post by westside on Jan 29, 2009 15:47:15 GMT 1
Motherwell is not that bad, its right next door to hamilton and just down the road is major hospital at wishaw. saying that some of the shops are crap and and town central does look dire but its still very busy. There also alot of green space and even that hugh park.
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Post by markinchman on Jan 29, 2009 19:53:25 GMT 1
I know of the guy who wrote that website, aparently he's got the Ladybird book of HTML. He's doing not bad considering but it just shows what happens when you give academics creative powers. Anyway I'm not really surprised we won the award, the town centre really does suck. It does seem that the entire competition was based there instead of the whole town in general which really isn't that bad compared to the likes of Kirkcaldy as westside said. Bring back the GDC is all I can say! |
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Post by Mark on Jan 29, 2009 22:19:56 GMT 1
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Post by blacksabbath on Jan 30, 2009 10:31:43 GMT 1
Hahaha we were discussing this last night at the annual Co-Op pub quiz, and our store (Glenrothes) won.  So we might be in the worst town centre in Scotland, but we're the most intelligent. |
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Post by mcwesty on Jan 31, 2009 12:44:04 GMT 1
This probably wouldn't have felt as personal if the award was for the worst "town centre". Does the Kingdom Centre reflect Glenrothes as a whole as a dismal town...? I dont think so. Its only one element. I can't tell if its the architecture they are critcising, the lack of outdoor public space, the lack of good quality shops in the centre, or the Council offices surrounding the shopping centre?   Maybe its all of the above but its not really clear. I agree totally with Markinchman, I hope this has positive spin offs. But im also really worried this could have the opposite effect, of putting more people off Glenrothes. Who would want to move to, or invest in Scotland's most dismal town...?  Frankly I wonder about the fairness in the voting methods of the awards. Motherwell and New Cumnock, as a whole, are far worse places than Glenrothes. They're having to build a new town next to Motherwell just to pull it out of the doldrums. New Cumnocks all derelict! I have a feeling North Lanarkshire Council would have done everything in their power to prevent it winning the award a fourth time. Coatbridge won it last year, Cumbernauld the 2 years previous. It wouldnt surprise me if they had everyone at North Lanarkshire Council vote for Glenrothes just to make sure Motherwell didnt win it. |
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Post by blacksabbath on Feb 2, 2009 13:51:10 GMT 1
Is this award actually by any official body?
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Post by Mark on Feb 2, 2009 22:16:59 GMT 1
it's just a cheap publicity stunt by architecture scotland: www.architecturescotland.co.uk/index.php and a magazine from the same stable called prospect. according to their website: "Prospect magazine and architecturescotland now plan to bring a conference to Glenrothes this spring". I think we should start saving the entire tomato surplus from all around Glenrothes from this point on, then when they come to the conference in Spring, we get some stocks set up in the rothes halls and launch the lot at them.... |
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Post by Mark on Feb 2, 2009 22:30:17 GMT 1
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Post by Mark on Feb 2, 2009 23:22:35 GMT 1
not that I'm obsessing or anything  but there's a video of the 2008 judging process here: tinyurl.com/akeuagand once you see the numpties responsible for judging it takes the sting out the award quite a bit  |
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Post by markinchman on Feb 3, 2009 11:20:52 GMT 1
It seems as though even those on the Architecture Scotland forum are not convinced: More and more this 'award' is striking me as just a way at laughing at Scotland's less fortunate towns. It falls the same pattern every year: nominations; award; local MSP gets upset; Reporting Scotland covers it; end. Nothing constructive seems to come out if, that I can tell. I haven't been to New Cumnock, but the photos of Kilsyth and Glenrothes are about as bad as it is possible to take. While neither are somewhere I'm planning on spending my next holiday in, they don't deserve to made out as somewhere between the 6th and 7th circle of hell. Or, at least, I'm not sure what this is meant to achieve. |
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So we might be in the worst town centre in Scotland, but we're the most intelligent. 
Maybe its all of the above but its not really clear.
but there's a video of the 2008 judging process here: