Renfrewshire Council chiefs 'had no choice' but to offer demolition option over Paisley's TA Building

Willie Swanson, Roisin Mulholland, Duncan Macintosh and John Wilby stand outside the TA Building in Paisley
-Credit:Andrew Neil


Renfrewshire Council chiefs felt they "had no choice" but to offer demolition as an option in the dangerous building notice served on Paisley's Territorial Army Building.

The local authority has come under fire for setting out two possibilities to the owner – reinstate the scaffolding it had removed or knock down what was left of the B-listed structure in High Street.

It emerged last week that JR Construction opted for the latter as workers were pictured taking down the stones piece by piece, concluding the demise of the architectural gem.

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Duncan Macintosh, a retired conservation officer, launched a petition opposing the initial application for listed building consent to flatten the property in November, which gathered more than 1,000 signatures. He has since questioned the thinking behind the contents of the dangerous building notice and called for an explanation from the council.

Mr Macintosh said: "On December 18 the owners were served with a dangerous building notice under the Building Scotland Act (Scotland) 2003.

"To be consistent with the council's previous opposition to demolition, officers could have been expected to have simply required that the scaffolding be re-erected. However, the notice gave demolition as an alternative way of removing the danger.

"In effect the owners had rendered the façade unsafe and were rewarded by being allowed to demolish it. Given the council's decades of support for the built heritage, strongly backed by their electors, an explanation is needed as to why the owners were given the option of demolition."

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Defending its position, a spokesperson for Renfrewshire Council said: "When considering the content to be included in the dangerous building notice (DBN), council officers sought a quote from a UK specialist for reinstatement of a suitably designed façade retention system for the former TA Building.

"This was required as if the owner fails to comply with the DBN, the responsibility to carry out the specified work and meet the costs would lie with the council. The quote for purchase and installation of a bespoke system was approximately £800,000, not including the cost of ongoing monitoring and any maintenance works required until a viable use for the site is found.

"Therefore, the council was not in a position to fund these works on a privately-owned building and had no choice but to include demolition as an option within the notice.

"While the costs could potentially be recovered from the owner, this would require a lengthy legal case with associated costs and there is no guarantee that the funds would be fully recovered. To reiterate, the council's preference was for the façade retention system to be reinstalled, but the owner has taken the decision to demolish."

Demolition works started at the site in Paisley's High Street last week
Demolition works started at the site in Paisley's High Street last week -Credit:Andrew Neil

The local authority previously said the owner removed the support system in early October and "ignored" four formal notices to reinstate it. It then served a dangerous building notice in the interest of public safety.

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Standing between Coats Memorial Church and Paisley Museum, the TA Building was damaged by a fire in March 2020. JR Construction was given the green light to build accommodation for up to 338 students at the site in October of that year.

Last year, it submitted an application for listed building consent for the demolition of the retained façade, but the request was withdrawn the day before it was due to be considered by the planning and climate change policy board in early December.

This development – which came after a report by the chief planning officer at the time said there was "no clear justification" to back demolition – meant councillors couldn't discuss the matter at the meeting.

The notice was served before Christmas and, despite the efforts of campaigners, the future of the structure designed by architect Thomas Graham Abercrombie has not been secured.

John Wilby, chair of Paisley West and Central Community Council, said: "The community council is extremely disappointed that the powers and financial sanctions available to Renfrewshire Council have proved totally inadequate in saving this precious piece of Paisley's heritage.

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"We call for a cross-party approach to Scottish Government ministers for an urgent review of listed-building regulations and directives.

"In this instance, we would hope that J R Construction would at least preserve important architectural features of the building that might be incorporated into the site's future landscape.

"It is important that, whatever building development follows there, planners insist it is architecturally sympathetic to, and complements, the iconic listed buildings on either side."

A spokesperson for the JR Group, of which JR Construction is a division, said: “Following numerous site visits and surveys, over a prolonged period of time, regarding the ongoing safety of the TA Building façade retention, deteriorating ground conditions meant the scaffolding/retention system – which had been supporting the structure for the last three years – was in fact sinking and, as a result, was pulling the building towards Paisley's High Street and had become a risk to life.

"It was essential that urgent action be taken to prevent public harm. Following extensive and detailed dialogue with Renfrewshire Council, permission was granted to demolish the remains of the building."

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