Bid for cash to put heart back into communities

COMMUNITIES in the East End of Glasgow are bidding to win a multi-million share of a new Government fund to improve local high streets.

The cash would bring a derelict old music hall and cinema back to life and transform a neglected crossroads by restoring it to its former architectural glory.

The Town Centre Regeneration fund was opened up to bids from areas within Glasgow following calls from the Evening Times' Ripped Off Glasgow campaign that city communities shouldn't lose out.

Originally the cash was only earmarked for small towns across Scotland.

Competition for the cash is high with the £60million fund attracting 133 bids from around Scotland totalling £125m, and four from Glasgow have put forward their case.

In Bridgeton, the Olympia building, which is almost 100 years old, has lain empty since 1993 and suffered major fire damage five years ago.

The building began as the Olympia Theatre of Varieties in 1911 and was turned into a cinema by the ABC chain in 1924.

It lasted for 50 years, before it became a bingo hall, like so many others in the city.

The local regeneration agency wants to put the iconic building at the heart of the community again.

Audrey Carlin, project director with Clyde Gateway, said: "We are investing £8m in Bridgeton between now and 2011. The Olympia building is a prominent landmark, which has been vacant for too long. It is B-listed and there is a strong desire within the community to bring it back into public use.

"The restoration needed is considerable. The Town Centre Regeneration Fund would allow Clyde Gateway to buy the building from its current owners and make it secure, saving it from further deterioration, then look closer at the possible options for use. To leave it as is no longer acceptable. It has been vacant for 16 years."

The £1.9m bid from the fund would fund the purchase and then another £3.6m would be invested by Clyde Gateway to start refurbishment work, with the likely use being a sports facility or office space for local businesses and services.

Ms Carlin added: "The ambition is to have public access to the building again. If it was turned into a residential development it would mean the loss of a community facility.

"This way we would also keep more of the original building, as local people want it retained and used again."

One idea is a sports centre that would complement the wider Commonwealth Games venues and would benefit both local people and elite athletes.

The second East End project is the largest of the Glasgow bids, which is hoping to secure cash for architectural work at Parkhead Cross.

The bid for £2.5m would conserve the landmark former bank buildings which dominate Parkhead Cross and restore the shop fronts in the area to their original Edwardian character.

The original shop frontage is hidden behind modern facades in most cases, and is thought to be restoreable.

The cash would also be used to rebuild the pavements and pathways, provide extra grant funding to owners, demolish buildings behind the cross at Dervaig Street to allow regeneration projects to start, and fund a lighting project on the most prominent buildings.

In the early 20th century, Parkhead Cross became home to the Savings Bank of Glasgow, which became the TSB, the Royal Bank of Scot- land and the Clydesdale Bank.

Tim Mitchell, Parkhead Cross bid co-ordinator for Glasgow City Council, said some work has been going on in recent years but extra finance is needed to complete the project.

He said: "One of the problems was the multiple ownership in the buildings. In the three bank buildings there are 39 owners who all had to agree to the work and to fund 10% themselves.

"Initially interest in the grant was slow, but it steadily improved. We then reached the stage where we had more applications than we had funding. One element of the bid would be to increase the grant funding to 100%."

Mr Mitchell said one business, Coral Bookmakers, has already transformed the shop front to the old style, in anticipation of the rest of the cross following suit.

A decision of the first phase of the Town Centre Regeneration Fund, totalling £40m is expected later this month.