Tayside House

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Tayside House was a tall, 18‑storey office building in Dundee, at 28 Crichton Street. It was finished in 1976 and stood about 58 meters high. The building was designed for Ravenstone Securities and Guardian Royal Exchange and was meant to house the new Tayside Regional Council. The council moved in after it opened in May 1976, using the block as its headquarters. Later, Tayside Police used part of the building as the city centre police station.

In the 1980s a raised walkway was added across the busy A991 road, linking Tayside House with the Olympia Leisure Centre and keeping pedestrians away from traffic.

Ownership and use changed after local government reorganisations in the 1990s. In 1984 the council bought the building for £8.6 million. When the Tayside Regional Council was abolished in 1995, its properties were shared by Dundee City Council and other councils. Dundee City Council eventually bought the remaining interests in 1997 for £3 million to be paid over 15 years. The building was often criticised and was even called the “least-loved” building in Dundee by some.

The site was chosen for redevelopment as part of the Dundee Waterfront project. The plan was to move council staff to a new headquarters, Dundee House, and sell or redevelop the old site. Moving to the new building was expected to save about £245,000 a year, but refurbishing Tayside House was thought to be expensive. A demolition contract was awarded in August 2011, and work began later that year. Because a nearby railway tunnel could be damaged, the building was taken down gradually rather than blown up. Demolition of Tayside House and the linking structure to Caird Hall continued through 2012 and 2013, with the main phase finished in July 2013 and the site cleared by the end of that year.