Saturday, 27 December 2014 - 05:25 am (CET/MEZ) Berlin | Author/Destination: Great Britain / Großbritannien Category/Kategorie: GeneralReading Time: 3minutes
Cumbernauld is a Scottish new town in North Lanarkshire. It was created in 1956 as a population overspill for Glasgow City. It is the eighth most populous settlement in Scotland and the largest in North Lanarkshire. The name comes from the Scots Gaeliccomar nan allt, meaning “meeting of the streams” as, geographically, from its high point in the Scottish Central Belt burns (streams) flow west to the River Clyde and east to the River Forth. A two-time winner of the Carbuncle Award; the town has since received the award of ‘Best Town’ at the Scottish Design Awards 2012.
The town’s housing is well planned and generally of high quality, making it a source of local civic pride in stark contrast to the town centre megastructure. The ideals of the 1960s were never realised and half of the New Town was never built. Cumbernauld North is home to many upmarket and large detached homes, many of which are surrounded by a golf course and have a backdrop of the Campsie Fells. Cumbernauld as a whole is leafy and airy and in no way conforms to its reputation of “concrete jungle”.
After the creation of the new town, diverse industries such as high-tech, electronics, and chemical and food processing became large employers, along with Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs. The main industrial estates were developed to the east and west along the A80 at Castlecary, Wardpark and Westfield. Areas at Luggiebank and South Carbrain to the south of the town have also been developed for industry.
During its construction, under the designer’s eye of Geoffrey Copcutt, Cumbernauld town centre‘s daring megastructure architecture was highly praised. Architects, designers, town planners and students of many disciplines visited Cumbernauld from around the globe to marvel at the town, for many years heralded as a utopian construction.
