Cumbernauld: Town for Tomorrow
The Cumbernauld Development Corporation was set up in 1955 to enact the New Town status of Cumbernauld. Geographically located a dozen miles outside of Glasgow, Cumbernauld sits atop a small hill which serves as the epicentre of the New Town.
The giant town centre complex — voted Britain’s most hated building in 2006 — is the focal point of the town and dominates the hill top. Cumbernauld was not just a new town, but a new concept. The residential accommodation was arranged in cellular units surrounding the town centre. Each unit was designed specifically so that a pedestrian could access the town centre within 20 minutes from any part of the town. All without encountering a car. It wasn’t that Cumbernauld was designed without regard to the motor vehicle — quite the opposite. Roads and footways are completely separate. There are no traffic lights, no pedestrian crossings but plenty of underpasses and bridges. All designed to keep traffic flowing unhindered.
To understand Cumbernauld it is important to consider the conditions of post war Glasgow. By 1945, around 700,000 people lived on 1,800 acres, with one seventh of Scotland’s population compressed into three square miles of central Glasgow. This, combined with industrial decline and an abundance of slum housing meant Glasgow simply had to be depopulated. Cumbernauld’s promise of a clean, modern town with good transport links and an abundance of social amenities has to be viewed in this context.
Cumbernauld was also a critique of the first wave of post-war New Town’s, which were said to be no more than monotonous low density housing estates. Being the first of the so-called “Mark II” New Town’s Cumbernauld broke new ground in the design of New Town’s. Indeed, Concrete Quarterly wrote in 1963 “for all the British New Towns- a recurring source of admiration to architects and planners from abroad — Cumbernauld is the most revolutionary in concept”. The key points which separate Cumbernauld from earlier New Towns and garden cities were: the high density housing, concentration of shops and amenities in the centre, and the previously discussed separation of pedestrians and motorists.
More recently planners have deviated from the original idea of an interconnected city centre by adding new but separate buildings to the town centre. For example, the below mentioned Technical College was supposed to be adjoining the town centre — not a separate structure.
Schools
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of the town’s public infrastructure is its schools. Located mainly around the periphery of Cumbernauld — so as to maximise housing concentration in the centre — the schools and their playing fields form a green belt around the town.
The best known of course is the imposing B-listed Our Lady’s High School. A Roman Catholic school which dominates the landscape and can be seen from the M80. The building was designed by renowned practise Gillespie, Kidd and Coia and looks like a huge battleship anchored to the hill.
Cumbernauld Academy (formerly Cumbernauld High School) looks to be completely closed with a new school is being built in the grounds. These school buildings — all being roughly fifty years old — are reaching the end of their practical lives and are gradually being pulled down. In East Kilbride, which was designated a New Town a decade before Cumbernauld, most of the original schools have already vanished. Even in Cumbernauld, Abronhill High made famous by Gregory’s Girl has been flattened.
Churches
Church of the Sacred Heart, by Gilesspie, Kidd and Coia is the most famous religious building in Cumbernauld. The design is perhaps not one of their most adventurous and the famous stained glass window is probably best enjoyed from inside.
Housing
Unlike New Town’s which had gone before it Cumbernauld took a different approach to housing. Gone were the low density neighbourhoods, consisting of separate clusters of housing, all connected but largely self sufficient. They were replaced by high density cells of housing units, with plenty of private garages all connected to the town centre.
Again, like the town centre, this principle was gradually eroded. More recent development in and around Cumbernauld has been mainly low-rise residences and Cumbernauld’s initial conception as town of high density residences has been all but abandoned.
Cumbernauld, as the first of the Mark II new town’s was an avant-garde experiment in town planning and social theory. The separation of pedestrian and motorist, along with industry and homes was a fry cry from Glasgow and existing urban areas. However, by making the town’s defining feature the town centre itself, Cumbernauld has been affected by inevitable changes in how people live, work and shop in the 21st century.
For a detailed account of the planning theory surrounding Cumbernauld I recommend this excellent thesis by Jessica Taylor, titled: Cumbernauld : the conception, development and realisation of a post-war British New Town
