I’ve written before about Auchinraith Trading Estate, but recently have been able to add some detail about its creation.
By early December 1978, Hamilton District Council had acquired all the land and properties needed to form a new trading estate at the bottom of Auchinraith Road and Herbertson Street.
By mid December 1978, demolition of the properties on the site had started. The old manse at the top of Herbertson Street had been completely levelled and cleared as had an old sandstone building on Jackson Street.
A service road was formed through the site in early 1979, allowing some businesses to start being relocated.
Even at that time, there was a lot of interest from local companies interested in building factories or warehouses. Sites were offered by planners to those companies with work starting in early 1979.
One of the most major firms was ‘Botterils of Blantyre’ who ended up building a 4,000 sq2 office and warehouse. The business was glad of the decision by planners, ending uncertainty about the site, something which was a concern to them for some time.
J.R. Reid (Printers) Ltd were also eyeing up their options in the new estate knowing they would have to move from the nearby Co-Operative building before its demolition in late 1979. Other firms interested at the time were Alexander Braidwood (Builders), R.G Barrett (Autosills), Dunvar NE Environmental Engineers and J.MacDonald (Scrapmerchants).
Around 2014, with some of the units renovated and starting to have shop windows fitted to them facing out on to Glasgow Road, the Auchinraith Trading Estate was renamed to “Glasgow Road Trading Estate”. The entrance in remains as Rosendale Way, a nod to the building once there.
