Another significant piece of the Dundee waterfront equation has been put in place or rather has been taken out of the picture.
The podium block often regarded as the little brother of Tayside House has been demolished to make way for the £1 billion redevelopment of the city centre site.
The former chambers of Tayside Regional Council which latterly also housed a police station was squeezed between the back of the Caird Hall and the 16-storey Tayside House, the former authority’s main office block.
Together they formed a dense mass of brutal, modern buildings which darkened and to many observers spoiled the architecture of James Thomson’s near 100-year-old masterpiece.
City planners eventually agreed and almost 40 years after being built the three-storey podium block is now no more and time is also running out for Tayside House itself.
The concrete and metal walkway which served both buildings and carried pedestrians over South Marketgait to the Olympia Centre, Hilton Hotel and Gala Casino has already gone.
Even under grey skies, the benefit of removing the podium block is clear for all to see.
The south aspect of the Caird Hall has been opened up and brightened, allowing the impressive lines of the historic structure to be admired for the first time since the 1970s.
Dr Nutan Subedi, chairman of Dundee Civic Trust, said: ”The lump of buildings that were there before did darken the area behind the Caird Hall, and the podium block being away does give a bright new view that people under the age of 40 in Dundee have never seen.
”I welcome the fact that it has gone and I am sure many people are looking forward to Tayside House coming down too, which will provide an even better and more open view of that part of Dundee and will be for the good of the waterfront concept.”
Tayside House is being dismantled in sections instead of blown up because of the built-up nature of the city centre and the proximity of the railway tunnel.
It was voted Dundee’s least loved building in 2000. The £1.2 million removal project is due to be completed early in 2013.
Its staff have already been moved to the new city council office complex at Dundee House, North Lindsay Street.