St. Enoch Centre

The St. Enoch Centre is an enclosed shopping mall in the centre of Glasgow, Scotland. The centre is located adjacent to St Enoch Square. Designed by GMW Architects and Reiach and Hall Architects, construction began in 1986 by Sir Robert McAlpine, and the mall was opened to the public on 25 May 1989. It was officially opened by the then-Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in February 1990. Located on the site of the former St Enoch Station, the building is just off Glasgow's famous shopping thoroughfare, Argyle Street and overlooks the historic St. Enoch Square and the original subway station building. The present St Enoch subway station is accessible by escalators. Whilst the target of many architectural critics, the building is notable for its massive glass roof, which makes it the largest glass-covered enclosed area in Europe. Not only does this substantially reduce heating and lighting loads – the mall area is lit entirely by natural daylight in summer, whilst the solar heat generated by the roof means that mechanical heating is only required for a week on average per year – it also earned the building its affectionate nickname "The Glasgow Greenhouse". The roof's steel framework was fabricated by the shipbuilders Scott Lithgow. The glass roofed element surrounds a seven-storey car park, and when originally opened, an ice rink. This was closed in 1999 when a refurbishment pr

Shopping mall data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).