The wrong building in the wrong place'. In a rough translation from diplomatic speak, this means a hugely expensive white elephant, propped up in part with public cash and dominating a supposedly mixed-use development, before which the occupants fled elsewhere when the going got tough and a cheaper location emerged.

Yesterday, almost five years on since the last employees downed tools, the demolition of the former Chunghwa picture tubes factory at Eurocentral in Lanarkshire began.

This hammered the final, rusting nail into the coffin of Scotland's dream of a Caledonian Silicon Valley'.

When it opened in 1996, to manufacture cathode ray tube computer monitors and televisions, the Taiwanese firm promised 3000 jobs.

More than that, it represented a bright, clean future for an area just beginning to wipe away the stain of more than a century of heavy industry, something acknowledged by the Queen and Donald Dewar when they officially opened it the following year.

Instead, the workforce peaked at 1200 and, by the time the plant shut, it had only 600 staff left.

Since then, Chunghwa's empty shell has dominated Eurocentral - 350,000sq ft of collapsed hi-tech industry welcoming thousands of people every day and standing as a symbol of the end of the dream of creating large-scale, high-skilled centres of manufacturing excellence across the central belt.

Along with the massive job losses at Motorola in Bathgate, NEC in Living- ston and Hewlett Packard in Erskine, it marked the end of an era in terms of the Scottish Executive's inward investment strategy.

In its place will be a new £300m office, warehousing and manufacturing base.

This will represent the largest, speculative business development of its kind in Scotland - all with easy access to the M8 and M74.

According to the team behind the venture, Tritax Assets Ltd, it also has the potential to create more than 5000 jobs. Tritax director Ian Ross also admitted that the new development is also one of the largest, speculative business space projects ever undertaken in the UK.

He added: "When we purchased the former Chunghwa building we had identified the opportunity to make the transition from a redundant single-user site to a mixed-use business park.

"In terms of our plans for Eurocentral, it was the wrong building in the wrong place and it will be replaced with 10 new office buildings, four new warehousing and manufacturing units and a range of ancillary developments including restaurant, crèche and gym facilities."

But is this the next phase in an evolving enterprise culture or an indication Eurocentral has flopped - itself a white elephant with only the faintest success to trumpet?

Will the much-lauded Ravenscraig development in nearby Motherwell be more of the same?

The latter is a view Central Scotland SNP MSP Alex Neil subscribes to and which politicians of all hues have some degree of sympathy with.

Mr Neil believes the proposed rail linkages with the south and the continent have not materialised as expected and that Eurocentral was too reliant on inward investment.

He said: "It's been a cycle of disappointments and never the success it was supposed to be. Chunghwa itself was a disaster from day one. I wish the new developers all the very best but if you're going to simply attract businesses from one part of Lanarkshire or Scotland to another part there's no economic benefit."

Unsurprisingly for a Nationalist, he believes ownership of the levels of corporation tax in Scotland would unlock the key for development in Lanarkshire.

Mr Neil added: "We're trailing behind Scandinavia and Ireland because of our corporation tax levels. We've got the land in Lanarkshire ready to go but we need the investors."

Local Labour MSP Michael McMahon's take is slightly more upbeat, viewing Eurocentral as a mixed bag. He acknowledges that Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire embraced the need for change once Chunghwa packed up and left, but has personal concerns about the impact of Ravenscraig on the enterprise zone.

He said: "Eurocentral's still got some fairly big names, is moving forward and will no doubt attract new tenants. But progress has been slower than expected. While I support it, the question needs to be asked whether Ravenscraig is getting in the way of progress elsewhere in North Lanarkshire.

"There's been a concerted effort to push it and this is having a detrimental impact already on town centres and other investment, as well as Eurocentral, with prospective investors being offered one or the other."

Tritax has been criticised for creating more office space than required for the market, but it is understood the firm already has interest in a number of the yet-to-be-built office blocks.

Whatever the early expectations, when Chunghwa closed, Eurocentral had 10 companies with a total of 723 employees. It now has 26 companies with 2271 employees, and tenants including ScottishPower, Morrison's, News International, British Bakeries, Next, Amey, Yell and DHL. As well as diversification from distribution and manufacturing to include office buildings, the inclusion of one of leisure entrepreneur Ron McCulloch's Dakota Hotels has acted as an inducement to potential new tenants.

According to Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire, an independent report carried out last year showed that the Lanarkshire Enterprise Zone, which Eurocentral is a part of, was the most successful of its kind in the UK and progress at the site was meeting all expectations.

It said major international companies had chosen the area because of its location and availability of skilled workforce, with Eurocentral contributing to the overall Lanarkshire Enterprise Zone and helping develop "a more balanced and vibrant economy".

Fusion Assets is the newly formed regeneration company for North Lanarkshire.

A 50/50 joint venture between Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, backed by public and private sector funding, its mission is to secure further partners to help redevelop North Lanarkshire's sprawling acreage of derelict and contaminated brownfield land, converting it into offices, industrial units, shops and homes.

Unsurprisingly, it used Eurocentral's Dakota Hotel as its launch venue earlier this year.

Jane Woods, chairwoman of Fusion Assets and head of public affairs for Boots in Scotland, refuses to comment on the success of schemes like Eurocentral, but scoffs at the idea the area could be shooting itself in the foot with more enterprise areas.

She said: "Can we sustain the growth in North Lanarkshire? Absolutely. What we need is more competition to give us a competitive edge nationally.

"Ravenscraig, Eurocentral, Gartcosh - these simply provide a choice for an area with huge potential."

Hi-tech failures June 1998 Planned Hyundai semiconductor plant in Fife is mothballed. Had hoped to employ 2000 people. February 1999 Lite-on electronics factory at Mossend, built with £2.7m government grant, closes. Loss of 150 jobs. April 2001 Compaq in Erskine announces 700 job losses. Work moved to Taiwanese company in the Czech Republic. Electronics giant Motorola confirms plans to close Bathgate plant with loss of 3100 jobs. Said it was forced to leave Scotland after slump.

December 2001 NEC said it is shutting semiconductor computer chip plant in Livingston - with the loss of more than 1000 jobs. May 2005 Troubled IBM plant at Greenock sheds 100 staff. November 2005 Hewlett Packard announces it is to axe up to 200 jobs at plant in Erskine, with work moving to the Czech Republic. February 2007 Scottish electronics group Simclar shuts plants at Irvine and Kilwinning, with a loss of 420 jobs.