Alien monstrosities (Johann Siebert)

Amidst the SIC’s self-congratulatory hype surrounding the opening of the new AHS building, some may recall when travellers into Lerwick along Scalloway Road could turn their eyes from the unlovely Tesco car park and Sound Service Station forecourt to the timeless and enigmatic Clickimin Broch with Staney Hill its natural backdrop.

Now, sadly, their gaze alights on three outsize structures, big enough for the production of Airbus wings, but in fact educational machines for commoditised learning on an industrial scale. Historic Scotland with masterful restraint refers to the “significant impact on the setting of the broch (even) after the mitigation measures undertaken by the SIC”.

Why the Shetland public consented to the SIC’s choices of site and building design is a mystery in view of current vociferous opposition to on-shore wind turbines seen as threatening “to turn Shetland into an industrial scale wind factory”.

There may, however, be some consolation in view of the SIC’s past record in large project management: that the broch will probably still be in existence long after the disappearance of the three alien monstrosities.

Johann Siebert
“Nooitgedacht”,
Bigton.

COMMENTS(8)

Add Your Comment
  • Allen Fraser

    • October 10th, 2017 14:47

    Johann is mistaken, these buildings are obviously a throwback to Shetland’s whaling past.
    The appearance of the new AHS building will bring a nostalgic tear to the eye of many an ex-whaler who ower-wintered in South Georgia.
    New students will rejoice in being educated in a building designed on the lines of factories now in rusting decay on a far away archipelago in the South Atlantic.

    REPLY
  • Leslie Irving

    • October 10th, 2017 18:23

    And the marts/slaughterhouse and town dump? I know which I prefer!
    Les Irving

    REPLY
  • Aaron Smith

    • October 11th, 2017 14:39

    Where should the bairns be teached? This is just a load of rubbish. The new school looks good to me.

    REPLY
    • Michael Garriock

      • October 11th, 2017 23:32

      Black Gaet?….north end of Tingwall?….Nesting or Girlsta area?

      All more central to the catchment area, like schools always were when common sense prevailed, and reasonably easily accessible from the main north, south and west main arterial roads.

      Not everything is best placed, when sited somewhere in da toon.

      That said, its unlikely the much vaunted and grossly overpriced shed they’ve just built in the dump will stand long enough for it to be worth arguing over where it sits.

      REPLY
  • John Tay

    • October 13th, 2017 18:44

    I agree, all these “alien monstrosities” are horrible. I thinks the natural formed Broch should be left untouched by the sight of man made structures around it.

    REPLY
  • John Irvine

    • October 16th, 2017 23:33

    Just wait and see if the sharks get to plaster the whole isles with a windfarm…. now that would be monstrosities!

    REPLY

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