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(8 votes, average: 3.38 out of 5)
Loading ...Steven Anderson (now of 3DReid) recalls an infamous industrial white elephant in Lanarkshire: “I nominate the HQ building for CPT(UK)Ltd at Eurocentral – a £10M office building for the Taiwanese company which was built in 1996, along with a 400×80m manufacturing barn (the 1st of 4 planned phases!) with our taxpayers pounds to attract new microelectonics manufacturing to the central belt.
“The GIA Award winning building was demolished within 10 years of it’s creation and before my 36th birthday.
“The Parr Partnership were the architects, with myself and Mark Dennis – now of Design Plus Limited in Jersey, as the main designers.
“David Lumsden – now a Design Manager with Sir Robert McAlpine was the Associate in charge of the project.
“As The Proclaimers may have said; Chunghwa no more, Hyundai no more, NEC no more…..”
I think the trouble with this plant was it was intended to make CRT for televisions but the explosion of the LCD/Plasma screen was just around the corner.
A new factory casualty,albeit nearer 20 yrs old, may be the Compaq/HP factory at Bishopton as they are ceasing manufacturing there this year.
Why did it need architects? It’s a prefabricated shed with the same layout as several thousand others.
Hello money: meet old rope.
does anyone remember what a disaster the demolition was?
http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/scotland/Demolition-is-halted-as-fears.3473421.jp
I would suggest the architect get’s over this blip because nobody misses a shed when it’s gone, especially an environmental nasty.
Ha! the designer cannot even get his facts correct: it was not quite a “Chinese” company but a Taiwanese company (from Taiwan, NOT China, get it? Check Wikipedia if you still have no clue), shameful!! Anyway, who cares about a shed? Most architects do not even mention about these buildings even though they are bread and butter stuff.
There were many problems with the CPT site going under…having worked there for 4 years I would assign blame to the the corrupt management, in particular the purchasing dept heads. A wee investigation there would show up all sorts of anomalies! It didnt help that some staff slept in cupboards either.
ps…the offices were the nicest I have ever worked in.
The closure of the plant was also not helped by the employment of giant manchilds of mumra esque proportions in the purchasing dept! They should have learnt their lesson but they re-employed a certain man child.
Anyway, the office building was nice I agree. Surprised they never saved that.
Tommy T – so angry….but I agree and stand corrected, CPT(UK)Ltd were a Taiwanese company. Keep up the good work – the world needs more pedants.
I am trying to source some images of the development, as the photograph is not the project in question.
Steven, we have updated the photograph.
I find it difficult to believe that the Chunghwa factory was designed at all, let alone by an architect. It always looked (at least from the A8) as if it had been lifted wholesale from a Far-East industrial estate. The huge billboard-type sign didn’t help either. Maybe I just wasn’t seeing its best side.
I too though not an architect was involved in the above project and was responsible for the lighting of the main staff canteen area using LUXO Halo-Grande direct indirect uplightes which at £950 a unit was a great coup for LUXO.As at the time most architects thought of us as “anglepoise suppliers for hospitals”.There where about 56 of these units in the area, which was the size of about 4 football pitches. Once the project was complete we did nothing to promote the building and on several visits I thought what a waste of space. So when Taiwan suffered I knew the writing was on the wall. But the DAKOTA next to it how long will that be there?
I always thought the office building was quite nice and tastefully decorated in orange, or was it burnt sienna.
The purchasing manager was definitely a sly old fox, setting up a ghost company when he was appointed and using it as the main supplier for CPT. Unbranded crap was then bought from them at well over the market value for quality gear. Rumour has it he took well over twenty million but who knows.