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Germiston, Glasgow
Germiston is a neighbourhood in the city of Glasgow, Scotland, north of the River Clyde. The area forms part of the suburb of Springburn for political purposes, but is more commonly referred to as part of the 'Royston Road corridor' flanked by the Cumbernauld Line railway and the M8 motorway (previously the Monkland Canal), its location midway between Blackhill to its east and Royston (Garngad) to its west earning it a position as the 'wee sister' of both of those better-known neighbourhoods.
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Garngad railway station
Garngad railway station was a railway station in Royston, Glasgow on the City Union Line, on the Garngad chord. It closed for passenger traffic in 1910.
The station opened on 1 October 1883. It was known as Blochairn station until 1885, when it was renamed to Garngad. The station closed on 1 March 1910. It was operated by the North British Railway. Passenger trains still operate through the station site to and from Springburn, the line having been AC electrified since 1960.
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Blochairn
Blochairn (, Scottish Gaelic: Baile a' Chàirn, lit. 'Town of the Cairn') is a district in the Scottish city of Glasgow, situated north of the River Clyde.
The district lies on either side of the main Blochairn Road. In 1969 the Blochairn Fruit Market opened there, next to a junction on the M8. The market occupies 32 acres (13 ha) and has 74 fruit and vegetable stalls and six fish stalls; it also handles flowers. It operates 24 hours a day and handles over two million tons of produce per year; it is used by caterers and food processors throughout central and western Scotland and also in Northern Ireland and Northern England. It has been Scotland's largest outdoor market since the closure of Ingliston Market in Edinburgh.
The Fruit Market was previously located near Glasgow Cross. When it was relocated, the housing in the area, which was prefabricated and contained asbestos, was removed. The local pub, the Blochairn Bar, known as 'The Budgie', in 1978 was the first pub in Scotland to be granted extended licensing hours, from 8am to 11pm, to serve the market shift workers.
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Provan Gas Works
Provan Gas Works is an industrial gas holding plant in the city of Glasgow, Scotland. The plant lies between the Blackhill, Blochairn, Germiston and Provanmill areas of the city, and was built by Glasgow Corporation between 1900 and 1904. It later became part of British Gas, and subsequently Transco and most recently Scotia Gas Networks (previously a subsidiary of Scottish and Southern Energy) who operate it today.
Originally the plant was a gasworks, manufacturing town gas via the cooking of coal. The plant was expanded after 1919. Following nationalisation of the gas supply in 1948, the plant passed to the Scottish Gas Board, and then to British Gas in 1973. In 1972, supplies of inexpensive natural gas from North Sea oilfields became available. The gasworks was downsized significantly in the 1980s in response to changing economic conditions arising as the British gas industry was privatised under Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Today the plant is largely unmanned, used solely for gas storage and distribution.
The plant has become significant for its two massive column-guided gasometers and an additional spiral-guided gasometer, which have become an iconic industrial landmark in Glasgow's East End. Among the largest of their kind in the UK, each of the towers can hold 283,000 m3 (9,994,000 cu ft) of gas, and is 85.4 metres (280 ft) in diameter. Their combined storage capacity is 566,000 m3 (19,988,000 cu ft) – each enough to supply a city the size of York for an entire day.
Since the construction of the M8 and M80 motorways in the 1970s and 1980s, which run directly next to the plant, the twin gasholders have become an unofficial portal into the city's central area for drivers from Edinburgh and the north. The towers have also gained an affectionate following among locals since they are often used to display huge placards showcasing the various promotional slogans for the city, the most memorable being the "Glasgow's Miles Better" and "Everyone's Glasgowing On" campaigns.
The future of the plant is under discussion: Glasgow City Council have proposed plans for decontaminating the unused land on the brownfield site and redeveloping it for commercial use. In 2012, Scotia Gas Networks announced that the twin column-guided and single spiral-guided gasometers were to be decommissioned, with no decision made on their future. The twin column-guided gasholders were protected as Category B listed structures in 2018 by Historic Environment Scotland (with associated buildings on the site listed at Category C), a decision which the owners disputed due to the high maintenance costs involved, particularly when no longer being used for their originally designed purpose. However, the listed status (along with a pair of similar structures located in the city's Temple / Kelvindale area) was upheld after appeal, supported by local MP Paul Sweeney, who called for the creative reuse of the structures, citing other examples from around the UK such as Granton Gasworks in Edinburgh, and internationally such as Gasometer Vienna, Gasometer Oberhausen, Østre Gasværk Teater and Newstead Gasworks.
In 2020, the Scottish Prison Service announced that it intended to buy 22 hectares (54 acres) of land adjacent to the gas works to build a replacement for HM Prison Barlinnie.
Demolition of the unlisted spiral-guided gasometer began in 2020.
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