ONE of Edinburgh's most notorious eyesores is set to be reduced to rubble within weeks.
Broomview House, in Sighthill, will be given a spectacular send off on September 21.
Around 650 surrounding residents will be forced to find alternative accommodation for the day, as the council have set up an exclusion zone around the condemned b
uilding.
Officials have also warned members of the public to steer clear of the blast zone, and watch the spectacle through a live internet broadcast as there are no safe viewing areas nearby.
The neighbouring Hermiston Court is also due to be brought down soon, although a number of residents are still believed to be occupying some of the flats.
The site – which was home to 84 households but has latterly become a playground for criminals, drug dealing and other antisocial behaviour – will soon be home to a children's playpark and new homes as part of a £60 million-plus redevelopment.
A new street is to be built complete with a parade of shops, a new community centre, library and a student housing development, alongside a new civic space and park.
Despite its bad reputation, former resident Andrew Downie, 62, a semi-retired vehicle mechanic who moved to Broomview House in the mid-70s, remembers the block as a family place.
He met his wife Anne, 66, there and the couple brought up their five children together in a fourth-floor corner flat, where they continued to live until the council moved them out last year.
He said: "The main thing we miss is the view. From our flat we had a great view of the castle, on to Arthur's Seat and beyond, and from another window we could see the Pentlands.
"The place always had a bad reputation but we never had any bother."
In recent years, the building has been sinking into the ground through subsidence.
Mr Downie added: "The ice cream van used to be able to drive through the pillars that support the building, but you couldn't fit a car under there now."
The council has estimated 330 properties will be affected by the exclusion zone.
Margaret Georgeson, 63, a retired Stevenson College cleaner, will have to vacate her Broomhouse Road property for the day.
She said: "A few of my neighbours are disabled and there are some that never leave the house."
City council housing leader Paul Edie called it "a new dawn for housing in Edinburgh".
The full article contains 414 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
