Giffnock
On June 1st, Pliny and Craig flew from London to Glasgow to visit the site of Whole Foods’ first store in Scotland. Currently under construction on the High Street (Fenwick Road) in a bustling suburb of Glasgow called Giffnock (or Giofnag if your prefer Scottish Gaelic), this store will bring healthy eating and an emphasis on local products to the northern UK. Organic haggis, anyone?
The day started early with a 5:15 AM car service to Heathrow. We met up with the rest of the project team and boarded a 7:10 British Airways flight to Glasgow. Arriving there at 8:30, we took a taxi to the site. On the ride over, we understood not a word of what the driver said. Fortunately, Andy Tate, our erstwhile MEP engineer from the northern part of England, ‘spoke’ Scottish.
Construction work was barely underway with the old interior recently ‘stripped out’ and the exterior of the structure covered with ‘hoardings’. The good news was that it wasn’t raining.
We went through the site ‘safety induction’ and donned the required protective gear – steel-toed shoes, ‘high-viz’ vest, goggles, gloves and hard hats – before entering the site. Note to all – you cannot effectively use an iPhone while wearing safety gloves.
Inside, not much actual construction was underway but we reviewed lighting mock-ups and decided that the landlord’s work on the preparation of the ceiling was mostly acceptable.
After a delicious lunch provided by the general contractor, RG Group (thank you, Roy), and a couple of project meetings, we were back on our way to the Glasgow airport. Since our flight was delayed, we had enough time to shop for duty-free Scotch and to grab a pint at the airport pub before our flight back to London.
We arrived safely at Heathrow Airport, transferred to the Heathrow Express to Paddington Station, transferred to the London Underground to Kensington High Street Station and were back to our home away from home (the beautiful Copthorne Tara Hotel) by 9:30 PM.
Just another 16 hour day on the job…
