Here too, I interviewed Jean McGeogh, who put her hand in a ballot box to find out which flat she was going to get in Like others, whose former houses were inspected by the council before a flat was allocated, she moved there from a tenement flat and worked as a cleaner and a barmaid — Red Road rent was high. For the children of Red Road in the s and 70s the concrete walls of the housing scheme were climbing frames, the surrounding fields football pitches.
Games of chap door run away, giant headers a football thrown from one of the windows of the towers and headed at the bottom , den making and squash matches against the gable ends were popular. Kids messed about in the lifts and rode bikes to the nearby hills of the Campsie Fells.
Inspired by the Ken Loach film Kes, one of my interviewees, Matt Barr, kept a kestrel on a homemade perch on his veranda. For the adults, there was the underground pub — the Brig Bar — and the adjacent bingo hall, the electric heating, floor-cleaning rotas, grocery vans and community spirit.
Concerns about asbestos, antisocial neighbours, vandalism and too-small lifts that frequently broke down led many families to seek accommodation elsewhere. A fire in in 10 Red Road, in which a young boy died, was a tragic catalyst for change. Many residents refused to return to their homes. From the 80s, two of the blocks housed students. Louise Christie moved into Red Road in and stayed there for five years. She remembered students arriving from the Western Isles, India and Indonesia.
Also in the 80s, despite hour concierges and secure electronic door entry systems, the flats were dogged by crime and vandalism. Access to communal spaces was made more secure with the installation of intercoms and electronic keys, and 24 hour concierge facilities were also added.
It was seen especially by outsiders as a grim and desolate place. By the beginning of the 21st century, repairs were costing more than rent, and by the decision had been made to demolish the Red Road flats. Phased demolition was planned to begin in , despite the fact that asylum seekers were still living in the flats.
The first block was demolished in June , and took just six seconds to fall after a series of controlled explosions. The second one followed in May A controversial plan was then announced which would see five of the remaining blocks demolished as part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
Those who opposed the plan said it would be insensitive to demolish the flats as a form of entertainment. They felt the demolition should instead be done with dignity, as a mark of respect to the people who had called Red Road home. There were also safety concerns, as the sixth block not yet planned for demolition was still inhabited by a large number of asylum seekers.
Since the demolition, Glasgow Life and Glasgow Housing Association have partnered up to create the Red Road: Past, Present and Future project, which collects stories, photos and recollections from those who lived in the flats. Save Save. Log In.
Others will miss their epic silhouettes on the Glasgow skyline, and lament the very public destruction of places many people once happily called home.
Construction of Glasgow's Red Road flats. But that satisfaction would prove short-lived. Red Road Flats , Glasgow s. The experiment failed miserably The tower blocks quickly proved to be of unsound build. Unusually, steel frames were used in their construction instead of prefabricated concrete blocks.
Lifts were often broken, forcing residents to routinely climb dozens of flights of stairs, or rarely venture outside. Cut off from all but their most immediate neighbours, people felt isolated, and children had few places to play.
The towers were rife with unemployment and deprivation and were near-impossible to police, so drugs and crime became epidemic. By the s it was generally accepted that Red Road was a failure, and in the flats were condemned to phased demolition.
Two blocks were blown down in , with the rest finally set to follow. Demolition of a Red Road tower block in North Glasgow. But good or bad, they have an architectural and historical story to tell — is it really appropriate that all eight towers should be erased from the face of the city without a trace?
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