Work is underway in earnest to bring down Forfar’s former Lochside leisure centre.
After more than five years of lying empty and a protracted legal fight over its future, heavy demolition equipment is now tearing into the 47-year-old centre.
And the machinery has given some people a glimpse back inside the shell of the building they grew up with.
The Forfar Loch Country Park site was fenced off after the Angus schools’ tattie holidays.
And the playpark adjacent to the old centre is also out of bounds for the five-month duration of the work.
Tree-clearing and other preparatory work was carried out.
But the start of the main demolition project has now begun on the south side of the building.
It’s exposed the seating which was once part of the leisure centre theatre.
And the café that welcomed generations of visitors has now gone.
The main sports hall and squash courts are still standing – but probably not for long.
Rise in costs
Angus Council is paying Falkirk-based Central Demolition £650,000 to raze Lochside.
The figure is £150,000 more than the authority originally set aside for the project.
Councillors finally agreed to knock Lochside down in December 2021.
It followed a landmark Court of Session ruling that declared the centre a common good asset.
That challenge was brought by local businessmen Mark Guild and Donald Stewart.
They claimed the building beside Forfar Loch had years of life left in it and wanted to see the centre saved.
Angus Council said it was structurally unsound and needed to be knocked down after its replacement by Forfar community campus.
The outcome of the court case forced the council to carry out a formal community consultation.
But hopes of a new tenant for the centre came to nothing.
As well as the demolition bill, it was costing the council around £1,000 a week to look after the empty building.
Once Lochside is cleared, the site will be landscaped to become part of the country park again.
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