Present restrictive practices on the sale and use of Housing Association land are proposed to be lifted opening up run down districts to private investment. It is anticipated some £1.5 billion will be spent through to 2022 demolishing 10,300 homes (the bulk high rise) and building 8,200 private homes with 3,800 for social rent. From an inheritance of 238 high rise blocks the standing tally has now been reduced to 223 with a further 34 high rise buildings scheduled for demolition. It is expected that Glasgow's count of approximately 167 remaining tower blocks of 12 stories or more can be reduced to around 120 within the next decade.
10 Petershill Court, 26 floors (74.1m) : Condemned 2010-2015 33,63,93 & 123 Petershill Drive, 31 floors (89m) : Condemned 2010-2015 10 Red road Court, 31 floors (89m) : Condemned 2010-2015 21 Birnie Court, 31 floors (89m) : Condemned 2010-2015 153 Petershill Drive, 28 floors (79.9m) : Condemned 2010-2015
The entire Red Road estate is expected to be demolished within six years. Multicolours, an interactive light installation in the condemned blocks was intended to signigy this, but has been shelved due to time restraints and financial problems. The event promised a confection of ambient light and urban decay to re-animate the skeletal hulks of failed housing policy with the ghostly glow of a hundred lanterns, each symbolising the presence of a departed tenant. The notorious estate comprises eight of the tallest social housing towers outwith London. French High Wire artist Didier Pasquette attempted to traverse three of Glasgow's tallest condemned tower blocks on 22/07/07 by means of a suspended steel wire, one can only presume the lifts had broken down again. Despite conquering Red Road itself Didier proved no match for the Glasgow summer and the stunt had to be cancelled.
487 Cumberland Street, 24 floors (68.9m) : Demolished 26th Feb 2006 474 Old Rutherglen Road, 24 floors (68.9m) : Demolished 26th Feb 2006
Two of the more architecturally interesting tower blocks in Hutchesontown, of identical design (though smaller) than five Broomhill blocks. Demolished as part of the ongoing regeneration of the Gorbals and Oatlands, block 487 was the first to fall.
5 Norfolk Court, 23 floors : Condemned 2020 66 Norfolk Court, 23 floors : Condemned 2020 40 Stirlingfauld Place, 23 floors : Demolished 09:45, 1 June, 2008 45 Stirlingfauld Place, 23 floors : Demolished 09:45, 1 June, 2008 Urban Initiatives are working up £450m proposals to build 1,726 new homes up to 12 storeys in height with associated commercial, retail & health facilities. The New Laurieston masterplan seeks reinstatement of the urban grid by configuring land use around a sequence of blocks, attention is focussed on primary nodes such as Bridge Street which will be reinstated as the districts main trade route, secondary streets will be tenemental in scale and tertiary streets will accomodate flats, town houses and terracing. Further, Gorbals Cross will be reborn at the junction of Norfolk and Gorbals streets whilst Green City Park (its crescent form reminiscent of Liverpool's Paradise Street renewal) will terminate the grid, a primary school at its heart. Taller and "landmark" buildings such as the school will be subject to design competition. Transport improvements are integral with a remodelled Bridge Street underground station accommodating higher densities with Crossrail and the M74 circling the periphery.
Phase 1 - New residentials will be constructed fronting Cumberland and Eglinton Street.
Phase 2 - Stirlingfauld Place is demolished and strong street frontages are created along Cumberland and Gorbals Street. Light industrial units will be created beneath the elevated railway.
Phase 3 - Norfolk Court is demolished allowing cohesive streetscape to reform along Norfolk and Gorbals Street. Gorbals Cross is rebuilt and the Green City park is landscaped.
Phase 4 - Bridge Street underground is replaced and a new 1391 space multi storey car park is built.
Opinion
Any visitor to Laurieston would scarcely credit it as a central district within a major city of one of the world's largest economies with some of the worst housing in Europe. Remedial plans invoke a continuation of the ethos that has worked so well for New Gorbals, this involves upping densities and forming a proper civic heart around a school and park with twisting arms of landmark housing reaching out to the river. Public and private areas will be clearly defined channelling pedestrians down public rights of way over watched by tenements thus minimising opportunity for anti social behaviour. Quality Street had previously calculated that the twin Norfolk Court slabs worth at resale will bank a healthy return on a relatively small capital investment when shorn of obligation to the destitute. Tabled plans hijacked the eco wagon with token turbines and reuse of the concrete shell whilst the grime textured brickwork is be punched out for thermally efficient glass and steel. The scheme faced significant hurdles from vested interest ranged against however, notably residents demanding continuation of subsidised housing,
55 Plean Street, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 75 Plean Street, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010
A general pervasion of lawlessness preceded by collapse in tenancy to one third occupancy has prompted GHA to abandon this estate.
160 Lincoln Avenue, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 200 Lincoln Avenue, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 240 Lincoln Avenue, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 280 Lincoln Avenue, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 150 Kestrel Road, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010 190 Kestrel Road, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2010
A phased sequence of demolition is planned following reports of subsidence in the area, throwing doubt on the long term stability of the structures.
3/5 & 31/35 Pinkston Drive, 20 floors (58m) : Refurbishment 16/18, 17/19 & 32/34 Pinkston Drive, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 2027 2/4 Fountainwell Place, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 28 November 02:30 16/18 Fountainwell Place, 20 floors (58m) ; Condemned 28 November 02:30 37/49 Fountainwell Avenue, 20 floors (58m) : Condemned 28 November 02:30 2-4 Fountainwell Terrace, 20 floors (58m) : Demolished 13 July 2008 02:30 16-18 Fountainwell Place, 20 floors (58m) : Demolished 13 July 2008 02:30
Those taking an early kip this 13 July would have been rudely awoken as much of the city reverbrated to the sound of explosives. Network Rail insisted on a series of early hours implosions to minimise disruption to rail services ensuring a sequence of spectacular floodlit demolitions, the first of their kind on UK soil. Kicking the evenings entertainment off was Fountainwell Place at Sighthill where twin 20 floor slabs came thundering southward. The Pompeiian ash storm barely having settled when a further dawn triple explosion was carried out at Millarston, one Sunday morning wake up call not to be ignored.
Opinion
Sighthill must unfortunately rate as one of the bleakest housing schemes in the city, an apparently random scattering of slab blocks as wide as they are tall dominate a post industrial landscape of wasteground and, perhaps symbolically, a graveyard. Opportunity for improvement is therefore huge with chance to establish a proper streetscape and better integrate the estate with the city centre by overcoming the physical barrier of the M8 with ample land for any amount of housing and parkland. Nevertheless even at this early stage tentative proposals seem to have aroused a degree of negativity by a minority of residents. In a diverse community of some 3,500 homes you cannot hope to achieve full unanimity, responsibility therefore rests with gha to properly present their plans, such a move is certain to assuage the waverers.
15 Coll Place, 18 floors (52m) : Condemned 2010 15 Forge Place, 18 floors (52m) : Demolished May 18 2008 9 Forge Place, 18 floors (52m) : Demolished 1993
A now familiar mound of ash grants clue to a grisly demise as 15 Forge Place begins a new and happier life as roads aggregate. Amidst widely publicised plans to demolish Red Road it seems the neighbouring dwindling Germiston estate has slipped silently below the radar as steady programme of demolitions take their toll. Images courtesy Zolita and Ron Stirling.
Lynedoch Court, 18 floors (55m) : Demolished 2009
Lynedoch Court has been comprehensively soft stripped with the careful removal of asbestos by JCJ Group in a £1.3m contract. A tower crane then employed to systematically dismantle individual cladding panels. All concrete wasprocessed and crushed off site to be used for the infill of a redundant Greenock dock.
14 Shaftesbury Street, 18 floors (52m) : Condemned 2015 52 St Vincent Terrace, 12 floors (36m) : Condemned 2015 Sanctuary with Mike and Sue Thornley plan to to reinstate the historic street pattern of urban blocks in Anderston, permitting secure backcourts with private parking and delineation between public and private space, maintaining density at 87 dwellings per hectare with 495 homes. The problem of the existing open plan layout will be tackled with reconfigured CCTV and improved lighting centred on a funding dependant feature sculpture on a prominant Expressway facing gable. GHA currently have no plans for demolition of their blocks but the masterplan allows for future integration within the new streetscape. Mizu and Anderston station are nearby.
Opinion
MAST's proposals seek to "conserve the skyline of the tenemental city" with a suburban scale that is out of scale with existing and proposed development at City Wharf and Elphinstone Place, exacerbated by a block on the sale of land for commercial use, severing an avenue of funding which could have raised the bar on a desperately low quality build and avoiding perpetuating the estate as low income ghetto.
The desire to restore urban vigour bulldozed away 30 years ago is commendable, see Anderston as It Was for what has been lost, but the limp interpretation presented is more evocative of East Kilbride than the second city of the empire. The (Scottish) government had overruled a decision by Glasgow City Council to block demolition of the Anderston estate, describing the council's aquiescence to a vocal minority of residents (25% of those who voted) as "irrelevant and incompetent". That may be true and removal of some of the worst housing in the immediate city centre is to be welcomed but the plans as presented represent a missed opportunity.
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Woodneuk Court, 15 floors (43m) : Demolition 13 July 05:55 West Court, 15 floors (43m) : Demolition 13 July 05:55 Millarston Court, 15 floors (43m) : Demolition 13 July 05:55
Amenity of a pleasant local park hasn't lessened pronounced social problems within the Ferguslie district of Paisley, factor in structural flaws and sharp demographic decline and you have three more explosive blow downs. Peripheral demolition of prominent negative architectural landmarks will enhance views of the historic centre of Paisley and reduce concentration of poverty but the sorry collection of noddy homes rising in their wake do nothing but suburbanise the inner city. Images courtesy Historical Paisley.
Ardgowan Court, 15 floors (40m) : Demolition 13 April - 15 May 2008 Blackhall Court, 15 floors (40m) : Demolition 13 April - 15 May 2008
Precision destruction was called for here due to proximity of high voltage power lines. Images provided courtesy Historical Paisley
REFURBISHMENTS Glasgow Housing Association have entered into partnership with Wates Construction and 3DReid to refurbish city council blocks using rainscreen panels and thin coat insulated render, replacement windows, external insulation and overhaul of ground floor entrances. Works encompass 55 multi storeys and 41 8 storey blocks in 12 locations across the city. Twelve blocks at Sandyhills and Sighthill, along with 18 blocks at Gorbals, Pollokshaws, Mosspark, Cardonald, and 25 West end towers are in line for this treatment.
250 Edgefauld Road, 26 floors (74.1m) :Refurbished 2008 15 Croftbank Street, 26 floors (74.1m) : Refurbished 2008
A scrolling pattern inspired by the decorative fretwork from Walter McFarlanes foundry is to be projected to twin tower blocks, the tallest on the Glasgow skyline circa 2015, by Collective Architecture. The pattern can be programmed to "grow" over the course of an evening reflecting the passage of time. Secondary low level lighting will illuminate existing trees and a goal post halo will define entrances to facilitate improved security and access.
81 & 105 Taylor Street, 25 floors (71.9m) : Refurbished 2008 12 Dobbie's Loan Place, 25 floors (71.9m) : Refurbished 2008 Grafton Place, 25 floors (71.9m) : Refurbished 2008
These Townhead multis have benefitted from re-roofing, cladding, new bathrooms and kitchens, secure doors, communal area improvements, lift replacements and an upgraded environment bringing the estate up to the same standard as the neighbouring Dundasvale. Although the gable end cladding of ALL four multi's now has to be replaced due to severe cracking. Popular with tenants and students despite Soviet design, refurbishment should temper the austere brutality of the estate and prolong its future in the medium term.
2 Dundasvale Court, 24 floors : Refurbished 2009 6 Dundasvale Court, 24 floors : Refurbished 2009 22 Dundasvale Court, 24 floors : Refurbished 2009
Dundasvale has received replacement doors and windows in addition to recladding works by 3D Architects and Wates Construction. Warmer tones certainly lift the mood in a depressing corner of the city centre but it remains to be seen how well a render finish will weather on a highly exposed tower.
64 Curle Street, 21 floors (61m) : Refurbished April 2007
21 Dougrie Place, 20 floors, (58m) : Refurbishment 25 Dougrie Place, 20 floors, (58m) : Refurbishment 33 Dougrie Place, 20 floors, (58m) : Refurbishment
These Castlemilk multis are currently undergoing recladding and will receive signature lighting from Collective Architecture to create a distinctive feature on the Glasgow skyline. Wind and solar energy will be harnessed as part of the project.
11 Waddell Court, 18 floors (52m) : Refurbished Summer 2009 39 Waddell Court : Refurbished Summer 2009 83 Waddell Court : Refurbished Summer 2009 12 Commercial Court : Refurbished Summer 2009
The 400 home Waddell Court estate in New Gorbals is to benefit from £5m worth of new balconies, entrances, insulation and overcladding with associated landscaping. Flats will benefit internally with new kitchens, bathrooms, central heating and rewiring. A mettalic finish with fully glazed balconies make for a superior refurbishment, enhanced by symmetrical pairing and riverfront setting.
Multis
for what has been lost, but the limp interpretation presented is more evocative of East Kilbride than the second city of the empire. The (Scottish) government had overruled a decision by Glasgow City Council to block demolition of the Anderston estate, describing the council's aquiescence to a vocal minority of residents (25% of those who voted) as "irrelevant and incompetent". That may be true and removal of some of the worst housing in the immediate city centre is to be welcomed but the plans as presented represent a missed opportunity. 
