In 1826, the construction of a monument commemorating the casualties of the Napoleonic Wars began on Edinburgh’s Calton Hill. The structure was to be a £42,000 likeness of the Parthenon, overlooking Scotland’s capital.
Despite attracting wealthy backers including Sir Walter Scott, the project was under-funded from the beginning. Having used only the finest materials, the builders ran out of money in 1829 and construction halted, never to resume. Ever since, the half-completed pillars that loom over the city centre have been known as ‘Edinburgh’s Disgrace’.
Flash-forward nearly two centuries: a 2006 project proposes a city-wide tram link that would travel from Edinburgh Airport across the city centre to the redeveloping coastal port of Newhaven. It was initially priced at £498 million and scheduled to be completed in 2010; the most recent calculations had the budget at £776 million and rising, with a completion date of 2014.
The project has been troubled from the outset. Alfred McAlpine (now owned by Carillion) were contracted to divert utility pipes and cables along the route. These lengthy works caused many delays and disruptions to civic infrastructure, and local businesses claimed losses of untold thousands in lost revenue due to closed thoroughfares.
Once the tracks were laid, again subject to delays, more problems followed: as the costs ballooned, the proposed route was shortened, no longer reaching the seafront. To make things worse, government, council and contractors clashed over the new terminal point as the fiasco continued.
Construction firm Bilfinger Berger entered a dispute with council-run consortium partners Trams In Edinburgh, claiming that they were being asked to pay for work beyond their contracted remit. The council opted to terminate the line at Haymarket to cut costs. However, the government threatened to withhold funding if the route stopped short of St Andrew Square, prompting an embarrassing double U-turn by the council.
The stop-start edinburgh tram project has won few local fans: businesses north-east of the city centre were subjected to upheaval for no reason, bruised cyclists have issued complaints over wheel-snaring tramlines, and apparently the lines may need re-laying due to recent weather damage.
First Minister Alex Salmond recently promised a public inquiry into the debacle, but many residents are already calling the project a ‘disgrace’. Over-budget, incomplete and hugely embarrassing to the city, you could be forgiven for thinking that Edinburgh’s rulers have forgotten their own civic history.
Image by Andrea Parisse
