The Herald

Recent siren calls for even more legislation to safeguard old buildings should be resisted. In fact, it is time for the whole listing system to be reviewed, for it protects even the most banal of "historic" buildings. I advocate its complete removal, to ensure every building project that involves new design and the replacement of a currently listed structure be judged entirely on its own merits. The absolute driver should be quality. Supporters of the existing system will tell you that polls show people like historic buildings and that old architecture attracts tourists. This may be so, but many people enjoy new buildings and they, too, can bring visitors. The logic that suggests that anything over 100 years old should take precedence over anything new in the planning system is bizarre. Last week in Glasgow, a building used as an office by the architect Alexander Thomson, who redesigned it, was partly demolished. Fortunately, Thomson was prolific, but his office in West Regent Street had become structurally unsafe, owing to apathy and neglect. So much so that the city council was forced to step in and demolish it. Historic Scotland, the body responsible for listing, and some council representatives are trying to save what they can but it is unlikely that much will survive.