If there has been one constant in the physical style and cityscape of Dundee in the last 50 years, it has been change.
The face and style of the place are all but unrecognisable as the character and context of the city have developed and altered with changing times, changing industries and business, changing population and changing attitudes to life and work within its boundaries and hinterland.
For Jack Searle, trained as an architect and Tayside Regional Council’s Planning Director from 1990-96, it’s not merely the changes themselves that are notable but the pace of these changes.
As chairman of Dundee Civic Trust for the last decade, he has been particularly well placed to view and understand them at first hand.
He agrees that in many respects, there’s no time like the present in terms of the sheer potential that is coming out of urban design and re-structuring.
“The Noughties”, he says thoughtfully, “have been quite an eventful decade.”
The 2010s, with arguments over wind turbines, biomass plants and the shape of things to come on the Waterfront, promise to be no less eventful.
Dundee Civic Trust, a voluntary body and charitable trust, was set up in 1973 as a response to large amounts of local demolition over several years.
Its stated aims are to preserve and promote the urban heritage of the city and its neighbourhood and encourage the best standards of design in architecture and town planning for new developments.
Its patron is the internationally famous actor and recently-elected rector of the University of Dundee Brian Cox who, interestingly, calls his home town “a city of survival as well as discovery”.IncredibleHe adds, “I am truly impressed by my city’s incredible ability to re-invent itself on a continuous basis.”
That ability has been very much a signature of Dundee in recent years.
“At the same time, public interest generally and interest in participating in the many debates that arise has increased considerably.”
Jack explained, “The 90s saw a bit of a decline in active interest in the Civic Trust it was quite a small organisation when I joined and for some reason, I seem to remember that we had something like £73 in the bank!
“But it has definitely grown and broadened and is very active again in so many areas.
“There’s an idea about organisations like this that there’s an element of being stuck in the past, of looking back with nostalgia to things that were better in days gone by.
“Of course preservation of what is great from the past is a prime goal but we are definitely not against development.
“Encouraging the best is the motto, supporting the best developments and the best standards whether it’s a new project or a restoration.
“It’s sometimes important to remind people now and again that every old building they like was once a new building. The really important part of all of this is to make sure that when a new building is created, we are putting something up that’s better than what is already there!”
Over the last decade, the Civic Trust has continued to recognise a wide range of projects with a series of awards, decided on by an ever-changing jury of architects, planners and lay people.
The first one, in 2000, went to Dundee City Council for hard landscaping in the city centre and since then honours have been given to housing developments such as the Clock Tower at Camperdown Dock, new creations such as the Queen Mother Building at the university, the White Top Centre “an amazing place”, according to Jack the restorations of Morgan Academy, Baxter Park and Gardyne’s Land and the building of the state-of-the-art dance theatre, The Space, at Dundee College’s Kingsway Campus.
Many more have been commended. At the same time, the Trust has launched many campaigns for and against proposed projects.
“We’ve had our successes, I think it’s fair to say, and we’re proud of those.
“We were amongst those encouraging Historic Scotland to be more flexible in their approach to plans for the Tay Hotel and with permission granted at the end of last year, that’s a long-needed project that will be under way soon.
“When we contacted the council and the University of Abertay about the proposals for Bell Street, the expression we used was about wanting Bell Street, not Belgrade, and the result is certainly a good one.
“We weren’t so successful in the campaign against the fashion for using untreated cedar on external premises in the city-the Apex Hotel is perhaps the most famous case but there are dozens around the town, weathering very badly.
“If it’s treated, it’s fine, but untreated, it’s not for our climate. I think, though, that people and organisations may be coming round to our point of view, and future developments may be rather different!”
One of the quirkier aspects of Civic Trust activities during Jack’s chairmanship was the salvage and somewhat problematic storage of the painted ceiling from the now-demolished Carbet Castle in Broughty Ferry, created by artist Charles Frechou, whose most famous work can be seen at the Paris Opera House.
“We had a lot of fun with that because it was such an interesting project but it was and remains a serious issue.
“The ceiling is an amazing piece of architectural artwork that deserves saving but the cost and practicalities, as with many such projects, have proved problematic.
“In this case, the ceiling was preserved in what might be described as sections but finding a home for it hasn’t proved possible yet.Safari”It has been on a safari round various premises and warehouses, including a former bakery at Stobswell and at one point, it almost went to a private house in Dublin with links to James Joyce, who wrote The Ghosts there.
“Eventually, however, due to national representations, Historic Scotland housed it in their air-conditioned store, where it is still looking for a suitable owner.”
Another interesting local project concerns the Linlathen Iron Bridge, believed to be the oldest it dates from the late 18th, early 19th century of its type in Scotland.
“It is unique and due to be restored by developers after a campaign by the Trust and the Institute of Civil Engineers.
“But keeping an eye on the ways and means is always a good idea, especially where something so individual is concerned.
“With historic structures like this, it’s the way they are restored and the final effect that matters most.”
Although Jack has stood down from his role as chairman, he still plans to be actively involved in some of the Trust projects, especially in these exciting times.
He and three others Nick Day, Alistair Barrie and Alastair Anderson are part of a working group on the Waterfront development.
“Where the continuing and long-term Waterfront development is concerned, the Civic Trust has been committed from day one to the principle of linking the waterfront to the city and we are very much in favour of the V&A plan to use an extension into the river, so we fully support that.
“Our main worry is that there is currently no Plan B. We are concerned that there are going to be unfinished areas, potentially unsightly, that inevitably take a long time to deal with.
“It’s a long-term plan, of course, over decades and someone who is a teenager could be living with this kind of unfinished element until they are 40.
“What I and a lot of others would also dearly like to see is a really iconic building and setting for The Unicorn.
“It’s such an important part of the heritage of Dundee and is a real asset which is currently in very urgent need of preservation.”
People generally, he thinks, are becoming more aware and more active where change in their local community is concerned.
But one of the Civic Trust’s major concerns is the habit of decisions being taken behind closed doors.
“I think it’s much harder now for the community to get involved in planning applications.
“There are new procedures in place now that have lessened the openness in the process.
“It used to be that only one objection ensured that an application was decided in public by elected councillors but now, it needs six objections for an application to go to committee.
“I’ve written in the past about a ‘democratic deficit’ in the planning system and I think it’s something we need to guard against.”
From the way we were, to the way we are today as a city and a community is a long way. And it’s not always been the most straightforward and obvious of paths.
Dundee got a bit of a bad name in the mid to late 20th century, something from which it has taken the city a long time to recover, but as Jack points out, “Many other cities had similar problems, perhaps not so well publicised.
“Of course there are things we would all wish hadn’t been done, like some of the demolition that took place.
“But I think it’s important to be truthful about the past, as well as to admit where we went wrong.
“People were very keen to get into the new housing created in the post-war years for very sound reasons.
“If you look at pictures of the Overgate as was, trying to save some of those buildings as things stood at the time wasn’t practical on the scale needed.
“People were coming back from the war. They and their families had to be housed decently and practically and quickly. And as the population grew and changed, those needs didn’t lessen.”
The mention of photographs is an interesting one, too. A recent series of photographic exhibitions has brought the Civic Trust’s collections to public attention and attracted many hundreds of visitors.
The detailed task of cataloguing and identifying photographs goes on but as Jack points out, “historic” is a term that doesn’t mean images that are distant in time.
“Now, it refers to all pictures before 2000 really! ‘Historic’ isn’t that long ago when you’re talking about images of City Square clogged with traffic as recently as the 1970s.
“Everything went through the middle of the city at that time which seems impossible to take in now.
“The really remarkable thing is not just the style of change but the rate of change which is quite amazing to me.
The example of that I always think of is the four different versions of the Overgate from the 50s to the present day, and schools from the 1950s now being completely replaced.”
Street names and trying to ensure that they fit the character and history of the city are another area of great interest, as is discovering the many plans that never quite came to fruition and imagining what the place might have been like if they had.
Jack’s own series of “Over the Rainbow” articles features many plans that didn’t make it a dual carriageway at Broughty Ferry and a vast pier out into the river (shades of the modern V&A plan at Discovery Point, perhaps?) and a grid plan terminating in a circular terrace such as the iconic ones in Bath.
“You can always think about ‘what might have been’ and of course, learning from the past and making the future better because of it is vital.
“But Dundee is a much better city today the creation of the university precinct has made a vast difference and there are some significant and forward-looking projects on the cards.
“As a city of its size, it punches well above its weight.
“It’s up to interested people to make sure that that continues to happen and the best of the past is matched by the best in the new Dundee.”
Over the last decade, the Civic Trust has continued to recognise a wide range of projects with a series of awards, decided on by an ever-changing jury of architects, planners and lay people.
The first one, in 2000, went to Dundee City Council for hard landscaping in the city centre and since then honours have been given to housing developments such as the Clock Tower at Camperdown Dock, new creations such as the Queen Mother Building at the university, the White Top Centre “an amazing place”, according to Jack the restorations of Morgan Academy, Baxter Park and Gardyne’s Land and the building of the state-of-the-art dance theatre, The Space, at Dundee College’s Kingsway Campus.
Many more have been commended. At the same time, the Trust has launched many campaigns for and against proposed projects.
“We’ve had our successes, I think it’s fair to say, and we’re proud of those.
“We were amongst those encouraging Historic Scotland to be more flexible in their approach to plans for the Tay Hotel and with permission granted at the end of last year, that’s a long-needed project that will be under way soon.
“When we contacted the council and the University of Abertay about the proposals for Bell Street, the expression we used was about wanting Bell Street, not Belgrade, and the result is certainly a good one.
“We weren’t so successful in the campaign against the fashion for using untreated cedar on external premises in the city-the Apex Hotel is perhaps the most famous case but there are dozens around the town, weathering very badly.
“If it’s treated, it’s fine, but untreated, it’s not for our climate. I think, though, that people and organisations may be coming round to our point of view, and future developments may be rather different!”
One of the quirkier aspects of Civic Trust activities during Jack’s chairmanship was the salvage and somewhat problematic storage of the painted ceiling from the now-demolished Carbet Castle in Broughty Ferry, created by artist Charles Frechou, whose most famous work can be seen at the Paris Opera House.
“We had a lot of fun with that because it was such an interesting project but it was and remains a serious issue.
“The ceiling is an amazing piece of architectural artwork that deserves saving but the cost and practicalities, as with many such projects, have proved problematic.
“In this case, the ceiling was preserved in what might be described as sections but finding a home for it hasn’t proved possible yet.Safari”It has been on a safari round various premises and warehouses, including a former bakery at Stobswell and at one point, it almost went to a private house in Dublin with links to James Joyce, who wrote The Ghosts there.
“Eventually, however, due to national representations, Historic Scotland housed it in their air-conditioned store, where it is still looking for a suitable owner.”
Another interesting local project concerns the Linlathen Iron Bridge, believed to be the oldest it dates from the late 18th, early 19th century of its type in Scotland.
“It is unique and due to be restored by developers after a campaign by the Trust and the Institute of Civil Engineers.
“But keeping an eye on the ways and means is always a good idea, especially where something so individual is concerned.
“With historic structures like this, it’s the way they are restored and the final effect that matters most.”
Although Jack has stood down from his role as chairman, he still plans to be actively involved in some of the Trust projects, especially in these exciting times.
He and three others Nick Day, Alistair Barrie and Alastair Anderson are part of a working group on the Waterfront development.
“Where the continuing and long-term Waterfront development is concerned, the Civic Trust has been committed from day one to the principle of linking the waterfront to the city and we are very much in favour of the V&A plan to use an extension into the river, so we fully support that.
“Our main worry is that there is currently no Plan B. We are concerned that there are going to be unfinished areas, potentially unsightly, that inevitably take a long time to deal with.
“It’s a long-term plan, of course, over decades and someone who is a teenager could be living with this kind of unfinished element until they are 40.
“What I and a lot of others would also dearly like to see is a really iconic building and setting for The Unicorn.
“It’s such an important part of the heritage of Dundee and is a real asset which is currently in very urgent need of preservation.”
People generally, he thinks, are becoming more aware and more active where change in their local community is concerned.
But one of the Civic Trust’s major concerns is the habit of decisions being taken behind closed doors.
“I think it’s much harder now for the community to get involved in planning applications.
“There are new procedures in place now that have lessened the openness in the process.
“It used to be that only one objection ensured that an application was decided in public by elected councillors but now, it needs six objections for an application to go to committee.
“I’ve written in the past about a ‘democratic deficit’ in the planning system and I think it’s something we need to guard against.”
From the way we were, to the way we are today as a city and a community is a long way. And it’s not always been the most straightforward and obvious of paths.
Dundee got a bit of a bad name in the mid to late 20th century, something from which it has taken the city a long time to recover, but as Jack points out, “Many other cities had similar problems, perhaps not so well publicised.
“Of course there are things we would all wish hadn’t been done, like some of the demolition that took place.
“But I think it’s important to be truthful about the past, as well as to admit where we went wrong.
“People were very keen to get into the new housing created in the post-war years for very sound reasons.
“If you look at pictures of the Overgate as was, trying to save some of those buildings as things stood at the time wasn’t practical on the scale needed.
“People were coming back from the war. They and their families had to be housed decently and practically and quickly. And as the population grew and changed, those needs didn’t lessen.”
The mention of photographs is an interesting one, too. A recent series of photographic exhibitions has brought the Civic Trust’s collections to public attention and attracted many hundreds of visitors.
The detailed task of cataloguing and identifying photographs goes on but as Jack points out, “historic” is a term that doesn’t mean images that are distant in time.
“Now, it refers to all pictures before 2000 really! ‘Historic’ isn’t that long ago when you’re talking about images of City Square clogged with traffic as recently as the 1970s.
“Everything went through the middle of the city at that time which seems impossible to take in now.
“The really remarkable thing is not just the style of change but the rate of change which is quite amazing to me.
The example of that I always think of is the four different versions of the Overgate from the 50s to the present day, and schools from the 1950s now being completely replaced.”
Street names and trying to ensure that they fit the character and history of the city are another area of great interest, as is discovering the many plans that never quite came to fruition and imagining what the place might have been like if they had.
Jack’s own series of “Over the Rainbow” articles features many plans that didn’t make it a dual carriageway at Broughty Ferry and a vast pier out into the river (shades of the modern V&A plan at Discovery Point, perhaps?) and a grid plan terminating in a circular terrace such as the iconic ones in Bath.
“You can always think about ‘what might have been’ and of course, learning from the past and making the future better because of it is vital.
“But Dundee is a much better city today the creation of the university precinct has made a vast difference and there are some significant and forward-looking projects on the cards.
“As a city of its size, it punches well above its weight.
“It’s up to interested people to make sure that that continues to happen and the best of the past is matched by the best in the new Dundee.”