Kapranos: Glasgow is destroying its heritage

HE WRITES songs for girls to dance to and his band have sold millions of records in just three years.

Alex Kapranos and Franz Ferdinand have in the process enhanced Glasgow's reputation as the cultural centre of Scotland and as a place where creative artists can thrive.

But the 33-year-old singer, one of Scotland's most influential musicians, has now accused his adopted city of neglecting its cultural heritage.

Kapranos says the city council should give more support to ventures such as The Chateau, the unofficial venue where the band played their first unlicensed gigs and which is now an artists' collective.

The star, in a wide-ranging interview with Scotland on Sunday, also berates bureaucrats for knocking down much-loved buildings of architectural and cultural significance as well as allowing the looks of others to be ruined.

But what will really raise hackles in the west, is his claim that Edinburgh has a much better track record of preserving its culture.

Franz Ferdinand - formed by four musicians who met at Glasgow School of Art and who have sold more than 5.5 million albums in three years - played their legendary early concerts at The Chateau, a dilapidated, privately-owned venue based in a disused department store in the Gorbals.

But Kapranos believes its future is uncertain despite its success at showcasing young musical and artistic talent. Council inspectors have insisted on a range of new safety measures inside the building if it is to continue providing artists' workshops and showrooms. They have also insisted on sound-proofing to protect local residents if the building is to be used for future late-night concerts.

Kapranos said: "People go to see The Chateau, but the last we heard, the council were trying to evict the artists living there.

"I am not demanding they put up a blue plaque saying 'Franz Ferdinand started out here', but the council seem to see creative people as the enemy.

"They are seen as a nuisance causing a racket in a disused building rather than enriching the city's heritage. In cities like Berlin and Amsterdam, where the authorities are more in tune with the creative side of the city's population, they would be allowed to flourish, but I don't think Glasgow has a good history of encouraging this sort of thing."

Kapranos, who was born in England before moving to Glasgow at the age of 10, says cultural "landmarks" that meant a great deal to the city's population had been destroyed, in contrast to Edinburgh.

"Glasgow seems so eager to rip down its heritage in complete contrast to Edinburgh, and it has happened over and over again." he said. "It is part of Glasgow's history that it has removed its own history."

He cited as an example the demolition of Rottenrow, the former maternity hospital in 2001, despite a local protest campaign, as an example. "How many weegies were born in that hospital," he asked. "What a landmark it was, but it was gone instantly."

He says that on a recent trip to the city centre, he found himself outside the former Baird Hall student halls of residence off Sauchiehall Street. "All the original art deco windows had been ripped out and really foul PVC windows put in their place," he said. "There doesn't seem to be the acute sensitivity you see in Edinburgh for the city's architectural heritage."

Cultural commentators welcomed Kapranos's comments on Glasgow's heritage as a stimulus for debate. Glasgow-born Peter Wilson, head of the Manifesto Foundation for Architecture at Napier University in Edinburgh, said: "It shows that people outside the architectural network do care about how the city looks.

"Glasgow is ambivalent about its past. It knocked down a Georgian city to replace it with a Victorian one and that process continues, whereas in Edinburgh there is a longer tradition of care for its buildings."

But Councillor John Lynch, convener of the council's cultural and leisure service committee, mounted a spirited defence of the city's track record, saying Kapranos had been "misinformed" about The Chateau.

"We are not in the business of evicting artists from anywhere. In fact we are encouraging a new artistic quarter in the King Street area," Lynch said. "The Chateau is simply a health and safety issue."

He added that the council had spent more than £200m on cultural facilities in the past five years, including the improvement of two major music venues.

Although building control was outside his remit, the council took seriously its responsibility towards the city's built heritage.