Eyesores on the prize for worst building

IT IS the prize no professional would ever wish to collect and the last award for which any self respecting company would seek to be shortlisted.

Architects and designers around the country are holding their breath as organisers of the annual contest to find Scotland's "most dismal place" name this year's contenders.

The Highlands has the dubious honour of having two areas shortlisted for the annual Carbuncle award to find the worst architecture, the bleakest outposts and the most depressing buildings.

Inverness and John O'Groats will be up against Denny, in Stirlingshire, East Kilbride, in South Lanarkshire, and Lochgelly in Fife.

Come August, one of them will be the proud, or more accurately the embarrassed, owner of the "plook on the plinth". The less than glittering prize awards are organised by the Glasgow-based architectural magazine Urban Design, previously known as Prospect.

Judges have drawn up a shortlist of five after dozens of locations across the country were nominated by members of the public.

Last year, Glenrothes picked up the unwanted honour for the town's Kingdom Centre shopping mall, which the judges described as "a 1980s timewarp".

The Carbuncles competition, which is celebrating it's tenth birthday this year, was launched to encourage debate about development in Scotland's towns and cities.

The magazine's verdict on the Highland capital is damning. "Inverness, which could well be one of the most beautiful places in the Highlands, is all too often a depressing and dismal place.

"Development and progress has gone hand in hand with drive-in retail, business parks and disjointed housing developments. Far from focusing on its unique Highland identity, an identikit sprawl of nowhere spaces are being built.

"Depressing and joyless, it is clear no passion has gone into the development or upkeep of Inverness. It's almost as if the residents have lost sight of what is possible. It's also clear that the local authority has lost sight of what is acceptable."

John O'Groats is described as "so desolate that the majority of tourists turn tail and return southward minutes after arriving in the bleak outpost" and the magazine fears plans for a 15 million revamp of the landmark are heading in the wrong direction.

"Last resort plans, in more ways than one, are in place to rejuvenate this ailing outpost and put right what has gone badly wrong but initial plans suggest things could be about to get a whole lot worse."

Denny has been singled out for a block of empty flats, described as a "series of three putrid yellow and pink slabs" on its high street.

Plans to remove them in an 11m revamp of the town centre have been stalled by the downturn. More than 1,000 residents have signed a petition demanding more action from the council.

Urban Design's verdict states: "Three five-storey pink and yellow blocks, a sort of fruit salad gone off, stand on top of a landscaped podium. The majority of these units are empty but the scene perhaps jars as much for its unexpectedness as for its decay."

East Kilbride is flying the flag for Lanarkshire after other towns in the neighbouring North Lanarkshire, including Cumbernauld, Airdrie and Coatbridge topped the list.

Urban Design said it shares many of the same "ills" as last year's Carbuncle winner, Glenrothes, also a new town.

According to the Carbuncle organisers, low points include "a run-down town centre badly in need of a makeover, an array of modernist buildings that do not conform to prevailing notions of beauty, and the estate bears all the hallmarks of post-war overspill."

The magazine adds: "The shopping mall closes at night, creating a lethal dead zone in what ought to be a vibrant 24/7 town, with a dearth of evening activities."

Fife's unwilling ambassador this year is Lochgelly, part of which "imparts a funereal air".

"The Lochgelly Centre, the heart of the community, lies boarded up waiting redevelopment. Until its replacement is built it leaves the town short of community facilities."

A spokesman for the awards said:

"We hope this shortlist serves as a wake-up call to residents, business and politicians for we fear many towns are sleepwalking toward disaster.

"We have sought to identify the very worst examples of architecture and design. In so far as our built environment is concerned far more is going wrong than is going right.

"The awards will raise the hackles of many concerned but they will also be constructive because they will give local communities the ammunition they need to prompt their local politicians into action."