IT is a scene which will trigger mixed emotions for thousands of people across Edinburgh. The Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion sits surrounded by piles of rubble, its windows knocked out, as the demolition teams move in.
Four years after the doctors and nurses moved to modern facilities at Little France, the building where they and their predecessors worked for almost 70 years is about to be demolished.
Around a third of a million babies have been born at the Sim
pson's since it first opened its doors in 1939.
The building echoes with some of the most cherished memories of countless families across the city and far beyond.
But workmen have now begun ripping out the interior of the building in Lauriston Place in preparation for its demise.
Some of the work is painstaking as it involves the removal of asbestos.
Within a few years, it will be replaced by a complex of one, two and three-bedroom flats, many with views across the Meadows.
Among those whose emotions have been stirred by the sight of the famous old building in its final days is Sinead McNally.
The clinical risk co-ordinator at the ERI's new maternity unit trained as a midwife in the Simpson's in 1977 and worked there until its closure.
Ms McNally, 54, who lives in Bruntsfield, still walks past the building daily and has taken a series of photographs to remember it by.
"I've taken photos of the flapping curtains. It looks such a mess now, but still stands as a reminder to everyone."
The beauty of the grand old building, particularly its two Art Deco staircases and its many balconies, loom large in her memory.
"I will never forget those big circular staircases," she said.
"You could stand at the top and look all the way down five floors to the rosette design on the marble floor of the basement.
"And I don't think anyone will forget the balconies, built so women could get sunshine and look out on the Meadows."
One task Ms McNally remembers is working in the unit's milk kitchen.
"The old milk kitchen was where we used to make up the baby's milk. That's all changed now as nowadays we don't make up milk. The majority of women breastfeed."
The Simpson's closed in March 2002 when the facility was moved to the new ERI site in Little France.
Though the new hospital has been welcomed for its hi-tech equipment, the old building still holds a great deal of sentiment for many former staff and patients.
Yvonne Clark, 52, clinical manager of the labour suite at the ERI, worked as a midwife at the Simpson's for more than 20 years.
Mrs Clark, from Queensferry Road, trained as a midwife at the Simpson's in the 1970s and was one of the last to leave the old building after staying behind to clear it out.
She said: "It was very sad to move into the new building. We just left a shell of a building and I shed a tear when I left. It's hard to see it when I pass by but our memories are with us."
Mrs Clark added that she wished the building had been torn down much sooner after it closed as it was painful to see its condition deteriorate.
"When you leave somewhere like that you expect things to be done much quicker," she said.
Grace Benfield, from Stockbridge, gave birth to her son Louis, now four, in a special birthing pool at the Simpson's in 2001.
The 27-year-old bank worker said she would be sorry to see the building go, but what she most remembered was the kindness of the nurses.
She said: "When I was giving birth I got quite a good room - the only one they had with a birthing pool. The nurses were really nice and helpful and made me as comfortable as possible for the 12 hours I was giving birth.
"It'll be a shame for them to see the building demolished. Of course, people now have to go all the way out to Little France."
Alice Davidson, 88, from Stockbridge, who gave birth to her two sons William, 68, and George, 66, at the Simpson's - one in the building about to be torn down and the other in its predecessor - remembered the lack of space in the hospital's early days.
She said: "I was so glad to get out. I remember all the beds were up against each other with just a screen in between.
"I had just come up from another room where I was waiting and the person in the next bed suddenly pulled back the screen and said 'have you had your baby yet?'. You could hear all the screams."
The Simpson's is the latest part of the ERI complex to be knocked down as part of the £350 million Quartermile development. The project is expected to boast at least 1000 new homes, more than 350,00 sq ft of office space, a boutique-style hotel and cafes, bars, restaurants and shops.
Among the architects working on the development are Norman Foster, who designed London's famous "gherkin"-shaped Swiss Re Building, Comprehensive Design Architects, who designed the Harvey Nichols department store on St Andrew Square, and Richard Murphy, architect of the city's Fruitmarket Gallery.
Work overhauling the entire site is expected to last until around 2012. The first apartments are due to go on sale in the spring of next year. It will be later next year before building work starts on the Simpson's site.
The category B-listed building at Lauriston Place today was built in 1939. It replaced the original Simpson's which opened in 1879 as a purpose-built maternity hospital.
The hospital was named after the Edinburgh doctor Sir James Young Simpson, who was the first to use chloroform as an anaesthetic during childbirth.
Around 6000 babies on average were born each year at Simpson's, which was one of the busiest maternity hospitals in Britain.
Dr Miles Oglethorpe of The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland said as well as the many memories it contained the Simpson's had also been important for its architecture. He said: "The Simpson Memorial Maternity Pavilion is a very distinctive Art Deco part of the old Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, dating from the late 1930s.
"Its design by architect Thomas W Turnbull reflects the period, making it stand out amongst the older buildings of the hospital.
"This was a great help to the many anxious husbands and other relatives who have navigated their way through the complex."
Gladedale Capital, the developer behind the project, said the building's deteriorating condition meant there was finally no option but to demolish it.
A company spokeswoman said: "Dating from the 1930s, the building had a significant asbestos content and had experienced a series of structural difficulties.
"Due to these problems during the 1970s the building was overclad with low-cost fibre glass panels backed with polystyrene to resemble sandstone.
"Subsequently there has been significant further deterioration and it is now necessary to demolish the building in order to regenerate this important part of the city centre."
The full article contains 1226 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
