| The listed artefacts, protected by law to prevent destruction or alteration without consent, have been toppled numerous times by large delivery vehicles taking a tight turn at the health authority’s headquarters.
“Lorries keep knocking the pillars down,” said NHS Tayside Chief Executive Professor Tony Wells. “We would put them back up and another lorry would come along and knock them down, so we applied for permission to widen the gates.”
Contractors removed the stone pillars, section by section, in advance of the work at the front of the hospital, where there are two gates, one for vehicles entering from Clepington Road and the other for vehicles leaving the site.
“What we have done is widen the exit by 1.2 metres and re-erected the pillars in a wider position,” said Ed McIntosh, head of NHS Tayside’s estates department.
He explained the pillars and fencing are listed with Historic Scotland. He believed that was because, during the second world war, most metal fencing was removed to boost the war effort.
The hospital’s fencing and pillars were spared, making them something of a rarity.
Mr McIntosh said detailed knowledge had been lost through time.
“We have the feeling that is basically what happened but nobody has been around here long enough to confirm the theory,” he added.
The work was completed over the weekend. |
