Shawlands Arcade — Attraction in Great Britain

A winderful example of late 60's to mid 70's British architecture from what has been espoused as the progressive School of Brutalism. The access from the east is indirect via a long substantial Central European/Cold War style walkway made up primarily of concerte paving stones - a rudimentary pre-formed surface water drain was installed to the front elevated walkway, unfit for purposed and badly neglected from day one. Approaching from the west is an original rather daunting flight of stairs (carefully neglected) consisting of a substantial square section extruded aluminium slatted handrail and a matching flight of steel reinforced pre-formed steps - nice! Front elevation is reminiscent of the Hugo Frederick Zukov designed Peoples Hall in Karkeiv which recently attracted the attention of an artillery battalion of the Russian Federation, it echoed many popular Soviet era designs, having a wide V shaped slopping roof line to the front elevation - examples of which can be found in the book "Exploring Post War Soviet and Central European Architecture" (section III shape, style and form) by Anton Gregorovitc, out of print since 1983. Wheelchair friendlyaccess is via a Z shaped paved approach of matching design and materials which terminates at the top of the steel reinforced concrete stairs outlined above. Central access is via another sloped paved concrete walkway running west to east, it's terminus being noticably offset to the right of the central plaza/concourse area. The buildings centre is roofed similar to the design of the Detroit Municiple transit hub circa 1977, high and wide steel trusses having framed glazed roof lights running south to north forming an impressive but largely un-purposed plaza zone. Various established retail outlets and a somewhat eclectic range of local crafts/leisure pursuits are well represented - everything from a stain glass workshop, a health gym, a fitness studio, two charity shops, 3 food retailers a huge and impressively stocked hardware store, fashion and beauty supplier, two banks, a pharmacist and a very popular public house. The rear of the site contains two car parks one an open dual deck fesign and the other a multi story covered parking - to the north east are very well maintained social housing units, and three larger retail units all currently occupied - one of which is a well run childrens kindergarten and soft play centre. Sadly in 1 years time - after many years of careful neglect and a lack of any substantial maintainence/improvement - this well loved landmark building will be lost when the site is to be 'improved" by demolition and redevelopment. Local residents have voiced their growimg disquiet at a percieved lack of meaningful dialogue and consultation with the parties and agents involved regarding proposef substantial variances to the...

The original shopping arcade design had a hotel and multistorey carpark along with public toilets and the so-called Shawlands Square area where old folks could sit on benches chatting. The renovation ruined this completely. The jobcentre, hotel, supermarkets and Woolworths are gone, the public space and toilets gone, the shops are boarded up, or charities have set up temporary camp. The only draw now is the Wetherspoon pub, B&M and a 24 hr gym. Pretty sad state of affairs. The half demolished car park is frankly scary. Could do with redevelopment. EDIT: Dec 2021 - well they must have read this review because there are plans to redevelop in two phases. Street level shops and flats behind. Hopefully they will be expensive properties to draw in the rich kids from East Renfrewshire and rival the West End. Shawlands has plenty of affordable housing, it needs rich folk to keep alive the burgeoning cafe scene, the restaurants and the unusual shops. The mistakes of the past (such as Pollokshaws' attempt to provide an arcade and social/affordable housing) must not be repeated, with online shopping the norm now, areas need to be developed differently from the past, it's a fresh nuanced niche approach that builds on what each area offers already, and spotting the direction of travel - which for Shawlands is to be cooler and...

Love the pidgeons nesting in the anti-bird nets, the amazing "almost has everything you can imagine at a price you can't believe" (take that how you will) hardware shop AND the lovely wee fruit and veg stall - the dude sets up his wares even when its freezing, there's frost and/or snow the ground and the wind howls - total respect. I like both Pounstretcher, B+M, I dig Shaw Trust and to bargain hunt in Iceland .. there is a wee Sainsburys but its an unknown land to super frugal shoppers like me 😁 I hope the council don't give the owners permission to demolish the place - the proposed "improvement" plan 'sucks and blows' big time ... no changes or improvements expected before they bulldoze the place in the name...