Amazing to think developments like this were once seen as futuristic and modern, and now it stands as grim a relic of all the failings of 1960s public planning and architecture. Grim, yet fascinating.

Having rented a penthouse I can tell you that what you saw was not the origional penthouses. The penthouses were ripped apart to make office space. The origional penthouses was a futuristic imagining of what life could be, and the finish of the penthouses was an interior designers dream. You opened the front door into a large area. The ceiling was in wooden slats, there was an open wood half staircase down to the bedroom with a porthole window. Opposite the bedroom was a beautifully fitted bathroom. Go back up the half open slatted wooden stairs to the entrance - then up another open wooden half stair case to a large sittingroom with underfloor heating with the external wall all glass looking over the hills. At the back of the sitting room was an open wooden stair leading to the kitchen/dining area - with windows looking onto the hills the other side. From the kitchen was another open wood staircase leading to the rooftop garden. All the ceilings were wooden slats throughout the building. All these feature were removed to make office space - which was unseccessful.

Thanks for sharing. When town planners/politicians/architects etc. talk of "15 minute cities" in the 21st Century, this dystopian nightmare is the reality. Hope you're feeling better Martin. Looking forward to some new music. ;-)

Thank you for this video, it is exceptionally well crafted and makes up for not being allowed to go and wander about in it myself.

also the next if there is another open day date I would kill to get a look up there Cumbernauld literally fascinates me

Years ago these flats were really lovely inside,they were made into offices and had the innards ripped out of them.

Unfortunately, they didn’t demolish the rest of phase one… I remember watching it being constructed when I was a wee boy, living just over the road from it in Craigieburn Road. As much as it is lauded by the ‘architects’ of the world, they do not live in the town and have to see this carbuncle of a shopping centre day in, day out. It’s a mishmash design, the newest section having cut through the first for it to be built. Many would love to see this ‘first stage’ and the rest of the shopping centre demolished, and replaced with a modern, well thought out shopping centre like those in Livingston… Livingston is an amazing place to shop… most in Cumbernauld go to Glasgow or Edinburgh, rather than shop here… if we had the equivalent stores in the first place (which we don’t). There was a proposal to refurbish the ‘penthouses’ and return them to their original use as homes as they had been turned into offices many many years ago but that seems to have been put on the backfoot, or cancelled. Maybe someone knows what’s happening with that...? There also used to be a ten pin bowling alley (if my memory isn't playing tricks on me) in the first phase but it closed down a very long time ago… I remember the Golden Eagle hotel… not the prettiest of buildings. I've lived in Cumbernauld for the greater part of my life; I'm originally from Drumchapel, Glasgow (and I'm still a proud Glaswegian), so I know what it's like housing wise. Much of the original housing stock (built at the beginning of the new town) needs to be demolished and replaced with modern environmentally friendly, and energy-efficient housing, as the bulk of the houses were flat-roofed (hardly ideal in the Scottish climate and much of the materials were of poor quality (my house is a flat-roofed) and we're substandard in their construction resulting in them being damp and poorly ventilated... Just have a wonder around Carbrain to see what I mean...

Oh man, I remember a few years ago photographers on the lost Glasgow forum discussing ways to get up to have a look at the apartments. Someone got up as far as some locked doors.

Even when it was new it looked like a wreck. Imagine paying top dollar to live there, and your view is a concrete sprawl.

The August 2022 Listing Assessment Report is useful for a history of the Centre with dates of some of the changes -- the penthouses were converted to offices in 1981, and the Golden Eagle was demolished in 1983.

Many thanks for posting this. I've been wanting to find out what it was like.

Great video fella. Its a shame so many of these so called new towns failed. That said the build quality was often an issue. I remember Hulme Crescent Flats in the early 80s and they were terrible, my cousin lived their for a while and it was shocking tbh..

The original "15 minute city". Cumbernauld offers prescient lessons for today's urban planners

Moved to Cumbernauld in 1974 and left in 2005 this brings back memories

what an s-hole. I have fond memories of exploring the town center as a kid. As a local of the town, I'm glad I moved to Australia...

I bet those renovation porthole windows were expensive back when they were fitted! Thanks for posting the video. Like so many buildings in Scotland that thick layer of green slime and dirt makes them look so much worse, that said some crazy design decisions probably didn't help things.

I think the Golden Eagle was in fact demolished in about 1984. I remember the hotel and thought that it looked like a wanton glamorous place when I was a child on my way to Retson's hairdressers. I remember the demolition and the resultant rubble. I thought the same of the penthouses. I imagined many an Abigail's Party inside them. Xxx

Excellent I always wondered what they were like

This Iconic structure deserves a better fate, sad to see these cool penthouses go to waste, disgraceful town centre cowboy management.

23:56 Behind that locked door was access from the last elevator that would take you to the 4th floor. Which would have led to where Friscos / Mackays etc used to be (Now where the Gym is situated) Also behind that locked door is access to the old CDC office (Rumour has it that the members are still locked inside today after NLC took them Hostage). Used to always try and find ways of getting up to the penthouse area even after it was no longer used as offices. Been kicked out many times! But honestly as a kid it was such a cool place to explore. so many neuk's and crannies to get into! Sadly I feel that with every refurbishment done on the 'old bit' has stripped away every inch of the buildings character. The modernisation has made it look more bland and lifeless in my opinion and proven as the quality of shops inside have gotten worse.. Empty Units even in the Shoe box antonine centre. Sadly we'll never see anything meaningful done to resurrect or even demolish it until the pension funds of the private owners are cashed out! sad but harsh reality. The people of cumbernauld left to suffer with it!

I think the apartments weren't popular because they forgot to put lavvies in them. Explains why punters used to throw carrier bags full a pish out the window onto passersby below.

Got quite emotional at the rubber flooring and the doors. Lol! Have not been up at that end of the town centre in over 20 years.

Just heard news that they might be refurbishing them into new living spaces, so they can look like they did back in 1970 :) you will be able to purchase a house up there if you wish :) very exciting When looking out of the windows facing the large b and m's there is a large building where the lift would take you up, in that room there was a disco, restaurant and bar but many people moved out as it was to noisy, you also access this room through the original wooden door but it is considered unsafe and unstable as the lights and floor are broken (therefore you cant go inside) such a shame, really could've went in a different direction if they had stuck to the original plan :( really quite sad. They cut off the bridge which leads to the eagle as people would occasionally fall or throw themselves off of it, the door however conects to an opening next to RBS bank.

I used to visit Cumbernauld regularly as a kid

Does anyone know how to get into or at least close to the penthouses now? Any answers are appreciated.

Does anyone know when the last people were told to leave the houses and what year it was

Awesome video and I can't believe the effort you went to with splicing in old footage. The aspirations of Cumbernauld Town Centre were so high but it's ugly as hell and a labyrinth inside. The modifications, add ons, 'refurbs' and dodgy blue paint all seem to have made it worse. Unbelievable that they slammed a Tesco down on some green space within the town. I think any new development is just going to end up like a bunch of retail parks along the central road. Not pedestrian friendly, open aired and just committing a new range of bad planning and bad architectural decisions. IMHO it needs demolishing BUT replacing with a modern centre of equally high aspirations as the original - everything under one roof but built better this time.

Nice video! I'm not from Cumbernauld myself, but used to get taken shopping there back in the 80s/early 90s, and I’ve always been intrigued about the penthouse area and what it looked like. Do they often hold these open days?It’s a real shame that the original plan was never fully realised for the town centre megastructure beyond Phase 1. Phase 3 (which I realised was also demolished back in the 90’s along with the rear section of Phase 1) and 4 always did look like poorly thought add-ons because they couldn’t be bothered anymore with the original plans.

Absolutely looking the original crittal windows of the estates. I think 60s council estates look better with well maintained original crittal windows. The UPVC replacements just makes the estates look cheap

A shame it was not given the build quality and maintenance it deserved

Not mocking, really I'm not, but when the view from a penthouse window is a large slab of concrete and some rusty metalwork, it's a bit of a stretch to call it a penthouse :) Nice video.

I don't know why, but when I read the title, I was expecting to see something beautiful and high end. At least there is a Tesco nearby, for when the buckfast is running low.

Here in Glenrothes we have the 1960's grey monstrosities. Its ironic that these designs were winning all sorts of adwards at the time but now the modern architects are telling us they are ugly and need pulling down as they are architectually inferior. Of course these buildings were left to rot for all sorts of reasons. Little or no maintenance. Badly built. Damp galore.

Scotland has some of the most beautiful countryside and scenery in Europe, if not the world, but the shabbiest towns with the most horrific, oppressive architecture, which is also terribly built. Little wonder Scotland has so much trouble with substance abuse and addiction. When people are forced to live in pebble dashed shit holes, highrises and faceless boxes that strip the person of their individuality, what else do you expect except desolation and dehumanisation?

First ever indoor view and the great quality of the video leaves me underwhelmed with these prestige dwellings. A terraced row of aerial igloos fit for the purple velvet-flared generation and little beyond. The fact that they’re so exposed makes my mind reel at what sort of heating bills the wind-swept North and South, top and bottom exposed flats would accumulate. Maybe a former resident would give a better opinion of their eagle’s nest existence?

I've been wondering what's up there since I went to the nursery on the 3rd floor

It would have seemed like a futuristic utopia back in the day. Today it would make a good film set for a dystopian movie.

Hi there, I'm actually doing my final project (MEng Civil Engineering) on The Centre, Cumbernauld. Is there any chance you'd like to interview? I'd love to ask you a few questions

As kids, me and a pal managed to get into the central corridor, we found a magnum of champagne, a box of chocolates and red high heels outside one door, they were wrapped in a red ribbon and large bow , we lifted them and fled immediately. The airplane windows, port hole windows, the creepiest, eeriest place I've ever been, I was around 10 yrs old. I forgot all about that day,, until many years later, I was watching the movie "The Shining" (directed by Stanley Kubrik) I had a "dolly zoom" flash back to that day as a 10 year old.

It's so ugly it could almost be called -beautiful- a modern art masterpiece. The place is definitely suffering from the scattergun approach to renovation, the original plan may have been heavily flawed but at least it was a somewhat unified design. Would be a cool project to restore one of the spaces to how it would have been as a penthouse, although I guess the cost for zero gain rules it out.

It would have been handy to live in the Town centre in one of those penthouses with the amenities and transport links so close, you could have literally lived and done all your business under one roof, do you have any idea why the flat had simpsons decor and lighting almost like someone was living in it? It was a missed opportunity at another way of life I think that goes for the whole town centre.

Propaganda runs deep Telling us what was magnificent when it was rubble with paint and tiles Thank you for fantastic work 🎉

The CDC club was at the other side

How did you get up there?

I always wondered what those portholes were for. It’s alarming that they we “penthouses”. Who would want to live in that slab of concrete?

It would be a good zombie apocalypse building

Looks like a prison

I find hat if i pause at 22:39 and 'zoom in', as the Americans say, I can read he 'heatovent' badge and bask ints mundane yet classic font. Then i need a cold shower.

Internal home electrics surface mounted in conduit, the epitome of penthouse living.

Designed by a 7 year old architect as part of a school project. #cucumbernauld.

Bladerunner

All Fitting's and Fixture's provided by M.F.I😂😂😂

Why cant they keep it simple like real cottages and skip all the rest of the junk and adding useless buildings

Shit view for penthouses but nice flats

Does anyone know when the last people were told to leave the houses and what year it was