Glasgow's 'tenement time bomb' needs action now

The Herald Scotland

4 days ago

Labour MSP Paul Sweeney describes the state of the tenements as a powder keg. 'It is a time bomb across Glasgow,' he says. 'Mainly because when something goes wrong, people are caught out.'
Glasgow is home to around 77,200 properties dating back before 1919. The tenements are home to more than a quarter of the city's population, and many of them are situated within conservation areas. But though many of the buildings are listed, the city lacks a cohesive strategy for maintaining their upkeep. Real fears have emerged that Glasgow's tenements will soon be facing an existential crisis unless something radical is done to protect them.
Glasgow would cease to be Glasgow without its iconic sandstone and redstone tenement blocks. They make up the defining character of the city with their honey blonde or rusty red bricks forming the basis of each neighbourhood. In the 1970s, Housing Action Areas (HAAs) pumped in grant funding and strict oversight to save thousands of buildings but those schemes ended nearly three decades ago. The tenement stock is quietly sliding back into crisis. Mr Sweeney would like to see the HAAs brought back.
A 2018 survey of Glasgow's tenements found that around 46,600 of the properties need structural, weather-tightening and restoration work. One third of the blocks lacked a factor and 5% were in serious disrepair, with roofs in particular in need of attention. The properties are more than 100 years old, and major components, like stonework and drainage, are reaching the end of their lifespan. Blocked gutters, leaky roofs and failing stonework lead to dampness and rot. Climate change means Glasgow is only going to get more rainfall, accelerating the deterioration.
Since 1969, the council has had the power to step in on repair issues thanks to the Housing (Scotland) Act, and the focus has always been on the older, pre-1919 tenements. Big money was poured into the buildings in the 1980s to keep them standing, but now, 40 years on, major parts of these blocks, like the roofs, are hitting the end of their natural lifespan. And roof repairs can cost owners as much as £20,000 each.
(Image: NQ) Councillor Jon Molyneux has represented the Pollokshields ward for the Green Party since 2017. The scene at this street corner earlier this month was all too familiar. The tenement across the road had been gutted by a fire in 2019. He says his inbox has been flooded by people who have been directly affected by the collapse, those forced from their homes. But he has also seen a huge spike in emails from homeowners who fear what might happen to their own tenement building.
'You have got people living in a block who do really care about maintenance and work, but it's hard to bring people together to get things agreed and moved forward,' Councillor Molyneux says. 'It only takes one owner to not be forthcoming, to not engage in the process, to then start to create problems.'
Patchwork ownership of tenements means that while each flat owner is responsible for their share of common repairs, without a mandatory owners' association, it only takes one person to stall progress. There are currently no legal requirements for sinking funds, and absentee landlords can make the process even more challenging. Understanding your insurance coverage before tragedy strikes is paramount to ensure you don't get hit by any pricey gaps in your coverage.
'None of it is straightforward,' he adds. 'There is an opportunity for people who think they might be in a similar situation to understand what the situation is. And people have a legal right to request sight of building insurance.'
The flat in Pollokshields that crumbled in July was already in a serious state of disrepair, its dramatic crash to the ground had almost been expected. But it sent alarm bells ringing for any other homeowner whose property was a tenement.
Attempts to safeguard the collapsed tenement (and the other across the street) had been caught up in a bureaucratic quagmire with owners, insurers, Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government all having to be consulted. And still, the issue went unresolved five years on from the initial blaze.
The Scottish Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance was set up in 2018 to bring experts and MSPs together in a cross-party effort to fix Scotland's crumbling tenements. The group's three key proposals were: five-yearly building inspections, mandatory owners' associations and a sinking fund for repairs. But five years later, the law has yet to change.
'The task of actually developing the legislation has been punted off to the Scottish Law Commission,' Councillor Molyneux says. 'It's obviously not going to happen in the current parliament. It just feels like it's not being given the political priority that it should.'
The Scottish Law Commission is currently working on a final recommendations report for its project on tenement law and compulsory owners associations, which they are aiming to deliver to the Scottish Government by next spring.
Councillor Molyneux says that in the meantime, Glasgow City Council should be considering a type of emergency resilience fund for those displaced by major damage that forces traumatic evacuations. 'It would be really beneficial, just to be able to make things a bit easier for people when life has been really tough,' he says. 'We should be thinking, how can we better support citizens in those situations?'
Mr Sweeney says that Glasgow's community-based housing associations already provide a good 'skeleton' to implement common repair funds. A more refined process to help tenement owners finance repairs would go a long way. But what if the work needs to be done immediately?
'Rather than having grants, we could have a patient loan scheme,' Sweeney says. 'It could recycle the money into a common fund. It would make the money stretch further.'
The council could also put together a building maintenance team, he says. A team to go around in a cherry picker with a hacksaw and some weed killer, destroying the ever-present buddleia and clearing the gutters while the street sweepers tackle the roads below.
'This year, we're celebrating 50 years of community housing associations in Glasgow,' he adds. 'That was a big intervention that was made to save the tenements that time around. We're now reaching a point where we need another big wave of activity around that scale.'
Marissa MacWhirter is a columnist and feature writer at The Herald, and the editor of The Glasgow Wrap. The newsletter is curated between 5-7am each morning, bringing the best of local news to your inbox each morning without ads, clickbait, or hyperbole. Oh, and it's free. She can be found on X @marissaamayy1