New St Andrew's House

New St Andrew's House, the modernist concrete home of the Scottish Office since 1975, has lain empty for several years now, but it's been cropping up in the Edinburgh Evening News recently in the context of plans by the site's (including the St James's Centre shopping centre) new owners, Henderson Global Investors (HGI), to demolish it and the shopping centre. You can read the most recent story by clicking here.

My favourite story about the building is that during its construction in the early to mid-1970s, workmen scrawled 'Willie's Room' on the wall of the room which was designated as the Secretary of State for Scotland's office. A reference, of course, to Willie Ross, who was the first Scottish Secretary to occupy the new building.