FURIOUS locals have branded a historic Glasgow music venue an ‘eyesore’.<\/p>\n
The half-demolished O2 ABC site has been dormant for months after initial demolition works were completed at the end of last year.<\/p>\n
The former\u00a0cinema<\/a>\u00a0turned nightclub had\u00a0lain derelict since the second Glasgow School of Art fire spilled over onto it’s roof in July 2018.<\/p>\n The iconic building on Sauchiehall Street<\/a> is being torn down, and plans are thought to be to build student accommodation in its place.<\/p>\n Bill Beckett, chair of Garnethill Neighbourhood Watch, says that something needs to be done with the site.<\/p>\n Historic Glasgow venue is an ‘eyesore’ say furious locals (Image: Colin Mearns) READ MORE:\u00a0I was given a tour of Sauchiehall Street by the council team who redesigned it<\/a><\/p>\n He said: “They’ve demolished about half of it and then all of a sudden,\u00a0month ago, it’s came to a halt.<\/p>\n “The place is all covered up, the boards are up, but there’s just the ruins of the brick and steel work jutting out everywhere.<\/p>\n “It’s an eyesore, an absolute eyesore.<\/p>\n “They’ve spent all of that money redeveloping Sauchiehall Street, and at the top of it is this ruin of the ABC, a half-demolished wreck.<\/p>\n “It’s not very good for our tourist trade that people are coming in, especially the amount of money the council’s\u00a0spending on the regeneration, putting new lights in lanes and flowers and all the rest of it,\u00a0it’s just totally unacceptable.”<\/p>\n “It doesn’t make sense, it’s a juxtaposition.”<\/p>\n The site has been stagnant for months (Image: Colin Mearns) Bill expressed his exasperation over the site’s stagnant state: “I don’t know if it’s just a stage where they don’t have the full plan in place yet.<\/p>\n “But my main question is: ‘Why start the job if you’re not going to continue with it?'”<\/p>\n The Glasgow Times contacted Chamic Industrial Services LTD, whose signage is still on the hoardings in front of the site, who said: “We’ve not been at the site for months, our contract was for the initial demolition works and we’re no longer involved in the site.”<\/p>\n The O2 ABC in Glasgow pre-demolition (Image: Vita Group) While the building itself has been deemed safe now that the front has been demolished, Bill shared concerns over the safety of the site.<\/p>\n He said:\u00a0“In its\u00a0current state, some of it looks like it could just fall over at any second, as well, you know.<\/p>\n “It’s a danger.\u00a0And I don’t think\u00a0I wouldn’t actually say it’s actually secure.<\/p>\n “Anybody\u00a0could\u00a0climb over the wooden panels they’ve got up. It’s not really that high.”<\/p>\n READ MORE:Here’s what could replace Glasgow’s O2 ABC as plan submitted<\/a><\/p>\n We\u00a0previously reported<\/a>\u00a0that Bill\u00a0had raised concerns about the number of rats possibly living there, saying the vacant building was an “ideal place for an infestation to breed”.<\/p>\n He thinks the situation is worse now than when the demolition started: “Garnethill itself has a bad rat infestation,\u00a0I’ve been fighting that for the past seven years.<\/p>\n “But it’s just out of control, and I always said\u00a0once the\u00a0demolition starts in the O2, the infestation is just going to get worse.”<\/p>\n “And the infestation has gotten worse since the demolition actually started.<\/p>\n “When it began, the rats were coming out,\u00a0and they’re just running about now\u00a0and are absolutely massive.”<\/p>\n The site during the partial demolition (Image: Charlie McGeachan) A Glasgow City Council<\/a> spokesperson\u00a0said: \u201cAs the building is no longer considered dangerous, the demolition has stopped.<\/p>\n “The future of the site is currently being considered through the planning process.\u00a0 We are keen that the site is developed successfully, whatever that use may be.\u201d<\/p>\n