Sunday, October 23, 2011

Development in recent times

More pictures from Tommy here of sites that have been developed in recent times. Individual images here.

7 comments:

New build said...

Am I correct in thinking that most of these are now flats?

Seafield said...

Great stuff Tommy, many thanks.

Anonymous said...

These give further optimism for the town centre. Some mainly run down buildings, redeveloped to what today we have to admit is far better than if left.
While we can all debate on the quality of the architecture, but the post-development sites are better than scruffy run down buildings.

Duncan said...

Well done. It's so important to preserve old pictures like these.

Anonymous said...

Flats aside ! i love looking at old photo's like this great stuff...

Bill Ding said...

Well done to both Tommy and the Gurn. These photos are important in tracking how the town evolves.

(By the way, what was the "Higgins" building originally and what happened to it?)

It is sensible to replace run-down buildings with ones which look better. But "New build" makes a powerful comment: that in almost all cases, commercial businesses, offices and public buildings have been demolished and replaced by housing/flats. This is true in many more locations than in the pics - Ashers' Bakery, Macrae and Dick, and others.

Is this a healthy trend? Housing is a normal part of any town - but not the only thing. It is shops, businesses, hotels, and public services that provide the jobs.

We can all enjoy nostalgia, and admire good new buildings. But housing without other economic functions turns a town into a ghetto.

Spelding said...

Higgins in Mill Road was Nairn's first 'public' school after the passing of the education act in the early 1870's. It's school function ceased when Millbank School opened in 1907, I believe. The building then became a furniture depository. It was destroyed by fire in the 8o's? and Higgins moved to their present site on High Street.