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{{Use British English|date=September 2014}}{{more citations needed|date=September 2012}}{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2014}}Bridge to Nowhere is a nickname used to refer to various unfinished structures around the M8 motorway in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. They were built in the 1960s as part of the Glasgow Inner Ring Road project but left incomplete for several years. One “bridge”, at Charing Cross, was completed in the 1990s as an office block. The Anderston Footbridge, a pedestrian bridge south of St Patrick’s church, was finally completed in 2013 as part of a walking and cycling route.NEWS,www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-23218784, BBC News, Glasgow’s ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ finally completed, 7 July 2013, A third “Bridge to Nowhere” was created in 2008 following the demolition of a hotel a few blocks away from the M8 but its remains were finally removed in 2017.

Charing Cross Podium

(File:Wfm m8 bridge to nowhere.jpg|right|250px|thumb|The Charing Cross Podium with Tay House built on the structure) The structure officially called the Charing Cross Podium was always intended to have a development of some sort on the top level. However, the incomplete structure looked like a bridge and was often referred to as the ‘Bridge to Nowhere’. When the western flank of the inner ring road was being prepared for tender in the mid-1960s the designer, Scott Wilson & Partners, advised Glasgow Corporation to include the development as part of the motorway construction contract. The Corporation ignored this advice, hoping that a developer would take on the project, along with its cost. The original masterplan for the area was devised by the London architectural firm R. Seifert Company and Partnership, which entailed the construction of two large mixed use commercial complexes in the area: which became the Anderston Centre, and the Charing Cross Complex - part of the latter would be built on the podium structure.BOOK, Williamson, Riches, Higgs, Glasgow, 1990, Yale University Press, 9780300096743, 214,yalebooks.co.uk/display.asp?K=9780300096743, In the end, the Charing Cross scheme was pruned back in ambition, leaving the podium unused for over two decades,“MEMBERWIDE"> DATE=23 JANUARY 2017 THE SCOTSMAN > ACCESSDATE=10 MARCH 2020,www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/glasgows-unbuilt-inner-ring-road-1457753, attracting notoriety at a time when the entire M8 construction project was the subject of very divided public opinion.The podium, and the adjacent land on Bath Street, were developed in the early 1990s by Malcolm Potier’s Tanap Investments. Tay House (300 Bath Street), a salmon pink {{convert|160000|sqft|m2|abbr=off|adj=on}} office building, was completed in 1992 and a section of the building was built atop the podium. It was later owned by Handelsbanken, MEPC, and now by commercial property company Regional REIT.NEWS, 20 December 1997, Tay House sold to MEPC in £22.8m deal, The Herald (Glasgow), The Herald,www.heraldscotland.com/news/12283853.tay-house-sold-to-mepc-in-228m-deal/, NEWS, 30 November 2015, £2m overhaul of iconic offices over the M8 motorway in Glasgow, Peter, Swindon,www.glasgowtimes.co.uk/news/14111884.2m-overhaul-of-iconic-offices-over-the-m8-motorway-in-glasgow/, Glasgow Times, WEB,www.glasgowlive.co.uk/news/history/10-eyesore-buildings-glasgow-love-17692321, 10 eyesore buildings in Glasgow that we all love to hate, Craig, Williams, 5 February 2020, GlasgowLive, Reach plc, Former tenants include the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board.NEWS, The Herald (Glasgow), The Herald,www.heraldscotland.com/news/12062860.tenants-for-tay-house/, 16 November 1995, Tenants for Tay House, It is rented to Barclays Stockbrokers, the University of Glasgow,WEB,www.gla.ac.uk/media/Media_418959_smxx.pdf, Tay House - staff handbook, University of Glasgow, 29 March 2018, and serviced-office company Regus.WEB, Glasgow, Charing Cross, Regus,www.regus.com/offices/united-kingdom/strathclyde/glasgow/office-space/glasgow-charing-cross, IWG plc, 10 March 2020, In 2022, Barclays completed the move of its Glasgow operations out of Tay House to its new purpose built campusWEB, Barclays unveils state-of-the-art campus in Glasgow,home.barclays/news/press-releases/2021/10/barclays-unveils-state-of-the-art-campus-in-glasgow/, Barclays Wealth, in the Buchanan Wharf development in Tradeston, south of the River Clyde, thus leaving the building redundant. In August 2023, the owner of the building - London and Scottish Property Investments (L&SPI) - announced the Charing Cross Masterplan in conjunction with Glasgow City Council.WEB, CONSULTATION Starts On £250million ‘Charing Cross Gateway’ Transformation,www.reglasgow.com/consultation-starts-on-250million-charing-cross-gateway-transformation/, reGlasgow, 31 October 2023, The plans entail the partial demolition of Tay House, including the podium structure as part of plans to create a raised garden over the M8 “trench”, thus recreating a public space joining the city centre to the West End. The plans also entail the construction of a number of new office developments, and most notably - high rise student accommodation towers.

Anderston Footbridge

File:Anderston Pedestrian Bridge.jpg|left|thumb|The Anderston Pedestrian Footbridge, looking east, shown following its completion in 2013, with the Anderston Centre tower blocks, Glasgow Marriott and the Argyle Building in the background]] The Anderston Footbridge, {{convert|600|m|yd|round=50|abbr=off}} south of the Charing Cross Podium, was originally planned as the main pedestrian connection between the new housing estates on the western side of the motorway to the Anderston Centre but similar to what happened at Charing Cross, the new development was scaled back in size – meaning that the bridge terminated in mid-air above the vacant land, which was eventually built upon in 1981 when a Holiday Inn hotel (nowadays the Glasgow Marriott) was constructed on the site.File:Bridge to Nowhere Model.jpg|right|thumb|Architect’s model from the 1960s of the uncompleted section of the Anderston Centre and the M8 Motorway showing the intended course of the bridge. The red circle shows where the bridge construction was abandoned. The present day Marriott and Hilton hotels now stand on this site.]] As a highly visible structure, it assumed the title of ‘Bridge to Nowhere’ from the Charing Cross Podium after that was built on and lost its bridge-like appearance.A proposal by charity Sustrans, under their national Connect2 programme, aimed to finish the construction, as well as connecting the bridge with a second one over the Clydeside Expressway. This should increase pedestrian and cycle access to central Glasgow on a route between Kelvingrove Park and the city centre. Sustrans won the funding in September 2011 – work to finally complete the bridge began in 2012 and was completed by July 2013.NEWS,www.theglaswegian.co.uk/glasgow-news/news/2011/09/01/exclusive-m8-bridge-to-nowhere-to-be-finished-102692-23388033/, Exclusive: M8 ‘Bridge To Nowhere’ To Be Finished, The Glaswegian, 1 September 2011, Tristan, Stewart-Robertson, 22 February 2017,www.theglaswegian.co.uk/glasgow-news/news/2011/09/01/exclusive-m8-bridge-to-nowhere-to-be-finished-102692-23388033/," title="web.archive.org/web/20120330214714www.theglaswegian.co.uk/glasgow-news/news/2011/09/01/exclusive-m8-bridge-to-nowhere-to-be-finished-102692-23388033/,">web.archive.org/web/20120330214714www.theglaswegian.co.uk/glasgow-news/news/2011/09/01/exclusive-m8-bridge-to-nowhere-to-be-finished-102692-23388033/, 30 March 2012, dead,

The third bridge

Glasgow gained a third “Bridge to Nowhere” in 2008 on a street a few hundred metres to the east of the Anderston Footbridge. The former Albany Hotel was demolished leaving the pedestrian bridge, connecting it to the adjacent Anderston Centre, terminating in mid air over Bishop Lane at the end of Waterloo Street. The hotel was controversially razedNEWS,www.eveningtimes.co.uk/the-end-for-the-albany-as-150-face-axe-at-city-hotel-1.941705, The end for ‘The Albany’ as 150 face axe at city hotel, Evening Times, 17 January 2007, 22 February 2017, in preparation for a new complex called Bothwell Plaza. The hotel development received planning permission in 2009NEWS,www.urbanrealm.com/news/1223/Bothwell_Plaza_rises_again.html, Bothwell Plaza rises again, Urban Realm, 10 February 2009, 22 February 2017, but remained unbuilt until 2016, when it was reimagined as an office complex called Bothwell Exchange. The remains of the bridge were removed in 2017 when construction on this scheme started.

References

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External links

• www.sustrans.org.uk/scotland/national-cycle-network/connect2/connect2-glasgow" title="web.archive.org/web/20130715034750www.sustrans.org.uk/scotland/national-cycle-network/connect2/connect2-glasgow">Sustrans Glasgow ‘Connect 2’ project: National Lottery funded project to complete the bridge as part of a walking and cycling route
• Glasgow City Council pages about the Sustrans Connect2 project
• The Herald Newspaper: Lottery bid to link up ‘bridge to nowhere’
• BBC News – success of the bid for funding to complete the bridge
• Images & map of the bridge to nowhere
• Hidden Glasgow – Bridge to Nowhere and Connect2 project photos
• Sauchiehall Street bridge: {{coord|55|51|58.29|N|4|16|16.87|W|type:landmark}}
• Anderston footbridge: {{coord|55|51|38.53|N|4|16|12.29|W|type:landmark}}