Glasgow Royal Concert Hall (Glasgow)

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Opened in 1990, this was the replacement for St. Andrew's Hall which burned down in the 1960s.

The building was a long time in the making - tracing its history back to an ambitious plan to create a giant civic square created by the realignments of Parliamentary Road and North Hanover Street, whilst eliminating the top parts of Buchanan Street and Dundas Street. What emerged of course was far less ambitious, the resulting "superblock" was instead occupied by Buchanan Bus Station, and the Concert Hall plan settled on the site on which it now stands, which was largely residential. The designs went from one version to another and originated in the early 1970s.

Beset by a whole load of technical and financial problems (all of which history has largely forgotten) during its construction, it was the then Glasgow District Council leader Pat Lally who played an instrumental role to make sure the building made it into reality - so much so that it has always been nicknamed "Lally's Palace" by locals.