Huge scaffolding outside a historic building in Glasgow city centre still remains in place - 13 years after it was first put up.
The scaffolding, which is covered by huge advertising signs, was first erected in 2009 to protect the 150-year old A-listed Egyptian Halls building on Union Street from the elements.
Regarded as 'one of Glasgow's greatest buildings', the Alexander "Greek" Thomson designed Egyptian Halls were built between 1807 and 1872 - meaning they have stood tall on Union Street longer than Glasgow Central Station.
However, the rundown building has been lying empty for over 40 years, other than housing some retailers on the ground floor at street level.
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The scaffolding remains in front of the building, despite a request by Glasgow City Council that it be removed to improve the amenity of Union Street back in 2015, and after local shop owners blamed it for a rise in criminality - including pickpocketing and drug dealing.
However Dundee developer Derek Souter, who owns the building, said at the time that the scaffolding was needed to protect pedestrians from chunks of falling masonry, as well as protecting the structure from the weather.
Back in December of 2019 the scaffolding was strengthened for 'combined structural and public safety reasons' based on expert advice, with a structural survey concluding that the building was now 'structurally unpredictable'.
In 2020, campaigners fighting for the future of the building called on the owner to sell up to allow repairs to begin, after it was shortlisted as one of Europe’s 14 most at-risk cultural sites by Europa Nostra, a pan-European heritage body.
At the time Glasgow City Council responded to the concerns by saying: "Our position on the future of the Egyptian Halls remains the same: we await proposals which show an appropriate and sustainable use for this building, which is absolutely a notable part of Glasgow’s built and architectural heritage.”
While October last year, Glasgow City Council ordered the owner of the building to take down the huge billboard advertisement that covers the scaffolding on account that it “constitutes excessive advertising", is "out-of-scale" and "over dominant".
However, the owners appealed to the Scottish Government over the move and said the income is needed to keep the scaffolding up to protect the building, and warned that demolition could be a possibility on public safety grounds without money coming in.
