Glasgow 1960s and what was called ‘redevelopment’

[RDR]

There does seem to be have been a mania for rearranging roads all over the city.
Gorbals X was wrecked and of course the alignment of Crown Street was changed.
Numerous other Streets were blocked or totally eradicated (South Portland Street for example).
Is there an overall explanation for it?

Am I wrong in thinking that the dead ends off the Kingston Bridge, West bound on the slip road just by the old CWS building were originally supposed to join the 'new' M74 and were then never used? A bit like the off slip from the M8 at GRI where the slip road was supposed to join with Castle Street and was never joined up?

[Bridie]

Regarding the quality of housing that was demolished around Cowcaddens - from memory they were mainly old,flat- fronted, plain looking flats above the shops. The shops too were starting to look pretty sad.
See the pics Glasgow In The 60's 70's on the other place.
Cowcaddens was a pretty rundown area of the town and probably had been for many years, my grandmother's first single-end after she married was in a tenement around where The Piping Centre is now, she used to comment on how bad it was and that would have been around the 1920's - she was still pointing the block out to me in the 60's.
As someone has said already, they had to make new roads somewhere - look at the good quality tenements they demolished to make way for the Clydeway Express and you can't really question the need for that road.

In my uneducated guesswork I'm still assuming that "good quality" tenements are the more ornate red sandstone type - is that correct?

[escotregen]

Let's just agree top disagree on your statement that 'you can't really question the need for that road'. Like many other cities Glasgow went down the new road mania route to the great consequent damage of the fabric and life of the city - but that's a whole different (and very heated) topic for another discussion

On the appearance of properties in Glasgow in the 1960s and 1970s I'd urge caution on drawing conclusions from images. The entire city was in an ugly dirty mess by that time (the black filth of industry and pre smoke-control was still there, and the council's stewardship of the public realm was not as well developed then as now.) A while back I was taking some Canadians around the city centre and I could hardly find a single example of remaining stonework that could give even a little glimpse of just how bad the stonework of the city was at that time. Nearest impression one can give is to say 'forget lovely tinted red, pink or sandstone and just imaging mostly ingrained soot black with some bits of grey and even less bits of dirty brownish red'.

The grime and filth IMO is a bit like general poverty, the danger is that after we have got rid of it, people get blase and either forget or have no real life experience of just how bad things were, and can get again.

On quality and the blonde versus red sandstone. Most of the very top quality tenements, especially of the later Victorian period were indeed red or pink sandstone. A great many of the blonde sandstone tenements were, nevertheless, of top quality. I'm aware of a few red sandstone tenements that were of inferior quality. I suspect in some cases the builder was using some inferior red material (stuff that was cut out of the bed etc.) because he could get it cheaper and it added a bit of superficial quality to the appearance of the building.

[SomeRandomBint]

Bearing in mind that what's out front is not always an indicator of quality... I'm in a red sandstone building, but oot back it's like a jenga game of blocks (still solid, mind). Along Ally Parade, opposite the park, there's still some rather handsome blond tenements standing proud without much damage or alteration.

And yes, I was also under the impression that the original bridge to nowhere (now part of the M74 link road) was originally part of the outer/inner ring road interchange hullapallooza. Road was never built hence why bridge never went anywhere.

*SAD SACK ALERT*

This is a website I quite like, called Pathetic Motorways. Here's the section on the M8, which addresses the never built inner ring road. Links all seem to be in working order from the site...

http://pathetic.org.uk/unbuilt/glasgow_inner_ring_road/

[Bridie]

On the appearance of properties in Glasgow in the 1960s and 1970s I'd urge caution on drawing conclusions from images...

The grime and filth IMO is a bit like general poverty, the danger is that after we have got rid of it, people get blase and either forget or have no real life experience of just how bad things were, and can get again.......

Most of my conclusions are from memory and from people's stories who actually lived in these areas and even taking into consideration how memory can sometimes play tricks, the majority of what was demolished, certainly around the north Cowcaddens area was certainly due for some kind of change - not that I'm pleased with what they replaced it with.

[LesterRose]

In my household we have been very quick on the uptake and jumped into a couple of Scottish Government schemes over the past two years. More recently we spotted a free cavity-fill insulation scheme and are taking advantage of that. Again there will be substantial savings from that (albeit this example is not relevant for a tenement, but insulated internal wall sheeting can be).

Someone earlier mentioned the danger of repeating the mistakes of the past, intentionally or unintentionally. I am of the opinion that the sort of scheme you are referring to will be one that will be looked back on in years to come as a bad move with negative consequences for the occupants and the built environment in general.

Poorly executed, inappropriate cavity insulation schemes can cause more problems than they solve with increased condensation, corrosion of fixings in the cavity, lack of breathability all leading to negative environmental (in the sense of the environment of the house) legacy.

Likewise, schemes for solar panels, promising free money and buy-back periods of just a few years and all the free electricity you can eat are ruining the visual appeal of many streets and will leave homeowners with outdated, poorly maintained technology in only a few years.

You have shared very nice view.. There are plenty of faulty schemes leading us nowhere.. As a customer we need to be bit more careful now.