Despite their beautiful views over the mouth of the River Tay, their dilapidation meant that they were no longer lettable and their degradation accelerated.
And so, today they were blown up...
What a sight. Four explosions, almost simultaneous, a second of calm, and then the cloud covering the surrounding houses, cars and streets with dust.... and a pile of rubble, which will doubtless help towards the supply of foundation for the V & A...and another chapter in Dundee's history.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
ReplyDeleteThat second of clam must have been very scarey - he he!
ReplyDeleteSame has happened here in Paisley and all over the place - a combination of neglect by the councils and junkies and neds being moved in and everyone else being forced out by these scum.
My sister used to stay in one here, now demolished, and I was amazed how quiet it was up in one of them compared to living in a tenement or flat. A waste of good buildings.
Billy
It was quite a sight! Another blot on the landscape gone.
ReplyDeleteEwwwwww... Thanks Billy. Corrected!
ReplyDeleteYou realise I was just testing you, and you have won a week's holiday with the Camerons. Congratulations. I hope you'll have a lovely time.
I know people in London Docklands and in Geneva who live in multi-story blocks, Billy, and they are very satisfied with them... and of course the view view ... but they weren't popular in Dundee and that means some of them were pretty much empty apart from the druggies. It's surprising how quickly they go downhill.
I'm told that the upkeep of them is huge, and the council feels that they are better off down. Most of them in Dundee have now been levelled. The ones near the hospital had to be taken down rather than blown up!
But yeah, it must have been lovely and quiet up there.
They had become a blot, Munguin, but it was strange to look up and NOT see them. It will take a bit of getting used to.
ReplyDeleteI can remember the area without the multis - very old buildings is horrendous disrepair which could have been saved if money had been spent. The council preferred the idea of a much bigger income from the multis so streets of homes were demolished to make way.
ReplyDeleteProgress isn't always for the best.
I suspect there are several of my fellow Perthites who'd say that this is what should be done with the whole of Dundee!!! LOL! However,if you promise not to tell anyone,I'll admit to actually liking Dundee! I've even got some Dundonian friends!!!
ReplyDeleteFrequently it's not SR. It took some time before they realised that old buildings, even ones in dilapidated states, could be regenerated into something far better than newbuild.
ReplyDeletePictishbeastie.... hello to you. Nice of you to drop by.
ReplyDelete.... Let me tell you (just between you and me, mind) that there are some Dundonians who wouldn't disagree about a great deal of the city being bulldozed.
But there are some nice bits. It took a French friend of mine to point out that, above shop level, some of the buildings in the town centre are actually quite spectacular.
But your "city" (let's hope it will be a city again) deserves its "fair" adjective, without any doubt.
Fancy having Dundonian friends though... have you seen anyone about it?
Everybody loves a good building implosion. And Dundee did four at once. But really, is a major demolition project carried out expertly and efficiently the best that Dundee has to offer?
ReplyDeleteIt's with some misty-eyed pride that I must point out how it's done in America (Las Vegas). It involves a fireworks display (that costs as much as the implosion project) and a floodlit and laser illuminated building....which is then consumed in flames as it's destroyed.
The Frontier Hotel implosion:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3K3kEDEAN4
But then there was the incomparable Dunes Hotel and Casino implosion. A STILL OPERATING multi-story electric sign blown to smithereens and the entire building consumed in a ball of flame. Two views:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei0q82UDHmo&NR=1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b9InzPaYnws
Only in America! But with more imagination (LOL) from the Dundee city government, YOU could have had this TIMES FOUR. ;-)
Hmmm Danny,
ReplyDeleteThey do everything bigger and better in Las Vegas, don't they, and everything is for entertainment.
It would have been nice to have some fireworks in the Hilltown, but with the state of the UK finances after the idiot Brown ruined the country by overspending and the idiot Osborne continues with the ruination by underspending...we would only have enough money for a couple of sparkers!
I loved the two guys at the end of the first video walking towards the building with what seemed like fire extinguishers...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UsePUn5-88c&feature=fvst
ReplyDeleteThis is how they do it in London!!
Damn and I didnt even see the planes this time!!!!
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have any. They can afford choppers in London, we just had a wee laddie flying his kite.
ReplyDelete