'It’s time to celebrate all of Scotland’s best buildings – even concrete car parks'
Architecture divides opinions – particularly modern buildings. But when we at Historic Environment Scotland “list” modern buildings – to recognise their special architectural or historic interest and to ensure that this is considered during the planning process – it is because there is something important about them. They are worth taking notice of.Of course, they don’t look like 18th or 19th century architecture or use the same materials; there was no heritage blueprint in the 1950s for designing Scotland’s first modern multi-storey car park – a whole new type of architecture had to be created for the way that we were living then. Look at the amazing range of post-war listed buildings in Edinburgh, from the Banana Flats to the Commonwealth Pool.These carefully designed buildings show us how we live, not only in the latter half of the 20th century but also today – and all these buildings continue to have a positive use. The Castle Terrace Car Park in Edinburgh is part of that (Scotsman, 24 October).