CONTEXT 178 : DECEMBER 2023 39 The athletic 1984 Kylesku Bridge (Photo: clementp.fr, Wikimedia) The airy 1971 Erskine Bridge (Photo: Douglas Campbell) ⁸ Williams, Craig (2020) ‘What the building of the M8 motorway did to the landscape of Charing Cross and Anderston’, Glasgow Live, 3 January 2020 reference is made to ‘technological excellence or innovation’ as a contributor to design quality (and is materiality). Structural performance is not similarly explicit. Yet this is fundamental to the design of any bridge. It is what will see a bridge withstand the rigours of use, the very beating heart of its essence. No matter how innovative or stylish, it is a failed bridge design if it does not work structurally (Galloping Gertie, the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, comes to mind: elegant but critically flawed). Passage of time allows for evaluation of how a building sits in socio-economic, historical or stylistic context as an artefact, but it also provides an opportunity to consider structural integrity and fitness for purpose, both of which are design considerations. Innovation, creativity and a palette of pioneering 20th-century techniques and materials are often novel and noteworthy, but buildings of this period were not all structurally or materially successful. Failure may well originate from design decisions whose manifestation is pertinent when assessing design quality and contribution to architectural interest. Ongoing repair or strengthening is, of course, part of the life of any building, including bridges. However, at the Kingston Bridge extensive re-engineering and replacement of key load-bearing design components is of an entirely different order of magnitude. While there was no doubt an eye to changing vehicle regulations and increasing traffic, the appearance of defects early in the bridge’s design life when it was operating at or about predicted traffic volumes raises a question mark over the efficacy of its design. Although not tested in court, a legal case against the bridge designers seems like a gently flapping red flag. Despite an expectation of added rigour and selectivity for more recent buildings, the Kingston Bridge listing sets too low a qualitative design and, by extension, architectural interest bar. There seems to have been a tolerance of significant alteration and replacement required to remedy the bridge’s structural design shortcomings and the regrettable aesthetic impacts of those. Both its structural authenticity and visual form were adversely affected by remedial works. Setting, age and rarity, social historical interest, and people or events of national importance are among factors that contribute as historic interest when considering prospective listings. The history of the M8 and the role that the bridge played as part of a series of congestionreducing infrastructure improvements in WestCentral Scotland was considerable and is not disputed. Enthusiasts may see it as pioneering. Many, including myself, benefited from it. However, despite efforts to minimise impacts, there is no doubt that the M8 and the Kingston Bridge cost Glasgow very dearly. Well-cherished places and communities disappeared or became unrecognisable. New road alignments created pedestrian no-go areas and interrupted the visual or functional continuity of Glasgow’s great northerly and westerly streets. Charing Cross, possibly one of Victorian Britain’s finest junctions⁸, and St George’s and Anderston Crosses, fell prey to the progress wrecking ball, along with some fine individual works of architecture. The context and sense of surrounding streets and buildings were forever adversely impacted. It was place destruction on a grand scale, not placemaking. We need to be wary of viewing the world through the lens of presentism, but we must also soberly and critically reflect on the gloss of many contemporary documentary sources. They do not tell the full story which perspective from passage of time brings. With its controversial historic interest and significantly compromised architectural interest, the Kingston Bridge listing remains an overreach. Important parts of the bridge’s story seem to be missing, under-explored or insufficiently weighted. More evidence-backed argument might convince me of its merits, but for now the Kingston Bridge seems like a listed bridge too far. Douglas Campbell is a heritage professional working in Scotland who started his training in Glasgow in the 1980s.
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