New pictures chart the ongoing demolition of a Hamilton landmark, as the town’s former higher education building is knocked down six years after closing its doors.
The old Bell College and University of the West of Scotland building on Almada Street in the town centre is currently being demolished, with the work expected to be complete by the end of the year.
University officials honoured its “lasting impact on the delivery of education in the region and deep connections with the community” as the work takes place and the prominent town-centre site – bounded by Bothwell Road, Caird Street and Beckford Street – is marketed for sale.
Demolition work first began at the end of June and has now accelerated with plant equipment including bulldozers and cranes visible at the site during the current phase of work as parts of the structure disappear.
A spokesperson for the University of the West of Scotland told Lanarkshire Live: “This marks an exciting new chapter for the site which is currently being marketed for sale. We are engaging proactively with our neighbours and local stakeholders to keep them informed and to minimise disruption throughout the demolition period.
“While the building has been closed since our move to the new state-of-the-art Lanarkshire campus, we recognise the lasting impact the site had on the delivery of education in the region and its deep connections with the community.
”We look forward to the opportunities that the future development of the site will bring to the town centre and its residents.”
Bell College of Technology first opened on August 21, 1972, and educated generations of students, beginning to offer degree-level courses in the 1990s and then merging with Paisley University in 2007 to form the current University of the West of Scotland.
The Hamilton site had previously housed army barracks for 150 years until that building’s demolition in the 1960s, with Lanark county council then acquiring it for the town’s new college location.
University students and staff relocated in 2018 to the new £110 million campus at Hamilton international technology park, with the Almada Street building closing its doors for the last time on July 27 that year before the new academic year began in September at the Blantyre site.
Now the university, who own the Almada Street site, are marketing it for sale.
A proposal of application notice was submitted last year suggesting future community consultation events on early plans for a residential development at the cleared land.
Planning authority South Lanarkshire Council say that “there are no approved plans for the site at this stage”.
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