Motherwell Civic Centre

Motherwell Civic Centre

Motherwell Civic Centre is an extensive group of interconnected Modernist public buildings located near the centre of Motherwell. Designed between 1961 and 1963 by Peter L. A. Williams of Wylie, Shanks and Partners for the Burgh of Motherwell and Wishaw Town Council, the complex was constructed between 1964 and 1969 by Whatlings (Buildings) Ltd.

The complex comprises municipal offices and a council chamber, a former magistrates court and registrar's office, a split-deck shopping area and office block known as Civic Square to the north, and a public concert hall and theatre on the lower ground level to the west. The buildings are set back from the road within a multi-level, hard-landscaped site on the east side of Motherwell town centre.

The municipal offices consist of horizontally proportioned slab blocks of reinforced concrete frame construction using standardised building units. The main six-storey block is narrow with asymmetrically opposing, semi-octagonal end elevations. Long and low three-storey blocks extend from the west and north sides of the six-storey tower, linking the taller buildings on the site and connecting the upper and lower level open spaces. Material finishes include smooth-cast concrete cladding with vertical fluting, polished brown stone aggregate surrounds, granite columns, timber boarding and 'Eau de Nil' green panelling.

The raised council chamber is mushroom-form in shape, projecting toward Windmillhill Street. It is windowless and supported on a single squat concrete pylon, adjoining the six-storey office block at first and second floor level. The chamber interior has been refurbished while retaining its cantilevered balcony and bespoke ceiling light fixtures. A cylindrical glazed stair-tower was added to the north side of the council chamber in 1999 and is excluded from the listing.

To the north of the site, Civic Square consists of a five-storey slab block arranged perpendicular to the other office blocks. The two lower levels contain rows of six recessed shop units with split-level pedestrian deck access. The oversailing offices on the upper floors are supported by exposed granite aggregate pillars (pilotis).

On the lower ground to the west is the Motherwell Concert Hall and Civic Theatre, refurbished in 2011. This is a two-storey, rectangular-plan, low-level building with a glazed corridor walkway at first-floor level extending around the perimeter of the two auditoriums. The theatre and concert hall auditoriums are arranged back-to-back and share back-of-stage facilities. The roof, swept up at an angle at the fly tower, is faced with ribbed dark brown aggregate panels. Metal canopies were added above both entrances and lifts were added to the southwest side of the building in 2011. Both auditoriums retain their shaped-timber panelled ceilings, lighting fixtures and projecting brick baffles designed to modulate the acoustics. The windows have powder-coated metal frames.

The public realm hard landscaping around the civic centre buildings, including plazas, walkways, stairs and deck areas, forms part of the original designs. To the east of the Concert Hall is a large rectangular-plan central plaza with a geometric paving pattern added after 1990. From the plaza, a pedestrian pend passes under the three-storey office block to a sunken garden area with border planting, which runs parallel to Windmillhill Street. The former pond and fountains in this area have been removed. The centrepiece of the split-level pedestrian deck at Civic Square is a circular opening in the upper deck with a beech tree growing through it.

A free-standing clock tower, located on the pavement at the corner of Windmillhill Street and Airbles Road, is square-plan with vertically fluted concrete cladding matching the slab block cladding.

Historical Development

As part of large-scale investment in Scotland's industrial central belt, a new administrative headquarters for Motherwell and Wishaw was proposed by the Town Council in 1953. The site at Windmillhill Street in Motherwell was chosen in 1959 as part of the proposed new civic centre development. Windmillhill had been a small settlement absorbed by Motherwell's expansion during the nineteenth century.

The design for the new civic centre was selected through a nationwide two-stage architectural competition, among the first of such scale in Scotland. Six designs were shortlisted from a total of 63 entries. The winning submission was strongly influenced by earlier Modernist architectural designs that emerged in Continental Europe during the interwar and early post-war periods. It was chosen unreservedly as an 'outstanding design and, as a work of architecture, a building of which the council can be justifiably proud' (Builder, January 1962).

The large site was cleared of all earlier buildings, including several residential and commercial properties. Suggested improvements to the proposed design were incorporated by the architects. Construction began in 1964. The slab blocks initially housed the Town Clerk's Department, the Town Planning Department, the Burgh Architect's Department, an apartment for the Provost, the Chamberlain's Department, the Parks and Burials Department, as well as various committee rooms, a large staff canteen and a public collection hall. The first meeting in the Council Chamber took place in January 1969, and the public assembly halls officially opened in 1970. The centre has remained a headquarters of local government in North Lanarkshire with continuous use over 50 years (as of 2020).

Various later refurbishments have been made to the buildings and associated landscaping to accommodate changing working practices and moves toward decentralised systems of local governance. The combination teak and aluminium window frames throughout the slab block ranges have been replaced with white plastic units. Steps at the south end of the slab block range and an adjacent area of landscaping were removed for additional car park space in the 1990s. Two rows of trees were removed from the plaza and its paving pattern was changed after 1990. The Burgh of Wishaw and Motherwell coat of arms, in painted metal, was removed from the chamber exterior and replaced with a glazed stair tower. The Concert Hall and Civic Theatre building was refurbished in 2011, with replacement fixtures and fittings in the interior public spaces including the ticket desk and bar areas. Metal fire escapes and disabled access points are later additions. Office space within the six- and five-storey slab blocks is now predominantly open-plan. The low block containing the former Magistrate's Court remains unused (as of 2020).

The following are excluded from the listing: interiors of the six-storey office block, interiors of the adjoining ranges and interiors of Civic Square, the glazed stair tower addition to the council chamber, lift shafts, metal fire escapes, and service additions to the fly tower of the Concert Hall and Civic Theatre.