Regeneration of Hamilton’s Cadzow Bridge underway

Mar 4 2010 by John Hutcheson, Hamilton Advertiser

WORK has finally started on a long-awaited £12m development in a rundown area of Hamilton.

Lanarkshire-based Rowantree Regeneration were almost four years ago granted planning permission for the demolition of 13 shops and 34 flats at Cadzow Bridge.

The aim was to replace the crumbling property at 196-232 Low Waters Road and 1-39 Jack Street with a mixture of shops and flats.

Occupiers of the existing business were to be offered premises in the new development.

Last year, as the credit crunch kicked in, the scheme ran into funding difficulties and stalled.

South Lanarkshire Council officials last February met with Rowantree and the traders to discuss the project’s future and agreed to look at how best they could support it.

Now, however, the scheme has secured the backing of Rowantree’s bankers and on Monday the company’s contractors, Glasgow-based CBC, began preparatory work.

And the start on site has not happened a moment too soon, according to well-known hairdresser Hamish Wilson, whose salon is one of the premises earmarked for demolition.

Hamish, who by August or September should be moving into new premises in the first phase of the development, said: “They have started doing the drainage system, putting in sewers and making tracks for the pipes.

“Once the services are in, they will start on the foundations.

“The first phase will see the construction of three shops, one of which I will have, plus flats above.

“Other shops and flats will be built in the second and third phases.”

Rowantree managing director John O’Meara added: “It has finally all come together, mainly due to the unwavering support of South Lanarkshire Council.

“We have spent £½m of our own money to date and have managed to sell all the flats and 14 of the 18 shops.

“And by pre-selling everything, we managed to encourage our bankers to take a different view of the project and they are now supporting it.”

He said the council had provided assistance but would not be liable if the scheme collapsed.

He added: “We have a bond, provided by an insurance company, to cover any losses.”

He explained that the flats had been sold over an 18-month period at prices below those they would have fetched today.

Mr O’Meara added: “You can make these kind of projects work but it takes a leap of faith from a lot of people.

“The biggest problem that we had with Cadzow Bridge was dealing with 37 different legal practices and, of course, 37 different viewpoints.”

Colin MacMillan, who has for more than 30 years operated a butcher’s shop in the Low Waters Road property, also intends to move to a shop in the new development.

Hamish added: “The Second World War didn’t take much longer than this project, but hopefully this will be the first step in revitalising the whole area because it needs it.”

A council spokesman confirmed they had provided assistance to Rowantree, and added: “We are pleased to see the site of a number of derelict and sub-standard properties being redeveloped with modern replacements, particularly in this current recession and depressed property market.”