| AdminHistory | As part of the Master Plan, and the Lothian Regional Development plan, which together set the shape and structure of Livingston New Town and its place within the Lothians, a regional shopping centre was envisaged as a way to boost employment. This regional shopping centre was to be part of Livingston's town centre, and was to be carefully planned and developed in a series of separate phases that would gradually extend the size of the and scope of the centre.
Initial plans for the town centre changed dramatically during the early planning of the 1960s. Early proposals had included the damning of the River Almond to create two artificial lochs, the location of a district hospital in the town centre; and the town centre itself was to be located either side of the River Almond and linked by a series of bridges and with pedestrian and vehicle traffic totally separated.
These plans were redesigned given the depth of glacial silt near to the river (which would have resulted in much deeper and more expensive foundations), the costs, and the decision by the Scottish Development Department that the Corporation could not fund the development of the Shopping Centre. This meant that the site was moved to the south of the river, and was planned instead as self-contained site, to suit the purposes of a private developer.
Unlike with most of the housing schemes in Livingston, design of the town centre used several design, engineering and construction consultants. The collapse of the initial plans for the town centre led to a complex, near two-decade long, legal case between the Corporation and consultant engineers Hunter, Zinn and Woolgar over the amount of compensation that was due to them.
The shopping centre project was sent out to tender in 1972. Ravenseft Properties won the bid with a plan that would create one of the largest indoor centres in the UK. The shopping centre was also to include Scotland's largest superstore. Almondvale Shopping Centre was opened in the autumn of 1977, with 320,000 sq ft of retail space available. This was subsequently known as Phase I.
Around Phase I the Corporation built up the rest of Livingston town centre, which included other retail premises, services and leisure facilities. |
| ScopeandContent | 13 subseries relating to the building of Livingston town centre, and Almondvale Shopping Centre Phase 1, comprising:
LDC/TD/1/28/1. Initial planning, 1964-1971
2. Project General, 1971-1985
3. General Enquiries, 1971-1994
4. Consultants and Developers, 1971-1984
5. Civil Engineering Contracts, 1969-1987
6. Roads and Bridges, 1969-1983
7. Services, 1972-1986
8. Parking, 1974-1989
9. Central Valley Proposed Developments, 1970-1995
10. Office buildings, 1973-1993
11. Fire and Building authority regulations and warrants, 1969-1974
12. Public Transport, 1979-1980
13. Miscellaneous (landscaping, site investigation, and brick failures), 1972-1987
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