9 high rise demolitions that reshaped Glasgow's skyline

Glasgow Times

28-06-2025

After the demolition this weekend, Waddell Court will be the only remaining tower block in the Gorbals.
The sight of a multi-storey building collapsing under a controlled explosion is nothing new to the city; this is the second in 2025.
We thought what better opportunity to look back at the demolitions that have reshaped the city's and local communities' skylines?
Read on for our full list:
Red Road Flats
Red Road Flats being demolished (Image: Mark Gibson) The Red Road flats were demolished in October 2015.
Four of the six Red Road multi-storey flats in Glasgow were brought down in a single blast, with two remaining partially upright due to an apparently unforeseen difficulty. The top half of two of the buildings remained standing at a slight angle after the bottom halves were destroyed.
Up to 2,500 people were kept from their homes surrounding the site due to the failed demolitions.
9 high rise demolitions that reshaped Glasgow's skyline (Image: Archive) When they were built between 1964 and 1969, the Red Road flats were the highest in Europe, at 292 feet (89 metres).
They were at the centre of controversy when Glasgow 2014 chiefs were criticised for planning to demolish the Red Road flats as part of the Commonwealth Games opening ceremony.
They eventually ditched the proposal to blow down five of the six remaining blocks live on television amid fears of a public protest.
Wyndford Towers
Wynford towers being demolished (Image: Robert Perry) The Wyndford flats, built in the late 60s, were demolished in March of this year by Wheatley Homes, to make way for almost 400 new homes.
The four 26-storey buildings at 151, 171 and 191 Wyndford Road were blown up using explosives on March 23, 2025.
The fourth block, at 120 Wyndford Road, was dismantled manually by experts.
We reported how onlookers cheered as the high-rises disappeared into clouds of dust at noon.
Some of them arrived hours earlier to secure a good view of the explosion, others stopped on their walks to observe.
Queen Elizabeth Square
Demolition of High Rise Flats in Queen Elizabeth Square, 1993 (Image: Newsquest) The Queen Elizabeth Square towers were blown up in a controlled explosion in September 1993.
Helen Tinney, 61, was part of a large crowd watching the 22-storey flats' demolition when she was struck by a piece of flying debris. Mrs Tinney died in the Victoria Infirmary after collapsing at the scene of the blast.
We spoke to Alex Mclean in 2016, who stayed in Queen Elizabeth Square from when he was born in 1965 until around 1983.
He said: '(We) played on corridors until a certain time when we were called in … Corridors two, four and eight were strict and not much play allowed … Great at New Year, most flat doors open and walk-in parties.
(Image: Newsquest)
'Chap door runaway was great. (We used to) start at number nine and work our way downstairs to the bottom. Some crafty tenants realised and got the lift to three or four and waited on you coming down and kicked yer a**e. Used to stand on concrete vent on outside of verandah, 14 stories up. Fearless, couldn't do it now!
"Most neighbours all looked out for each other and minor disagreements were forgotten … (That) changed when long-term tenants moved out and strangers moved in.'
Queens Court, Toryglen
Queens Court Toryglen (Image: Newsquest) The tower block immortalised in a Sony TV advert, Queen's Court in Toryglen, was demolished in 2007.
The flats, built in 1968, had been empty before award-winning director Jonathan Glazer shot the advert, spraying 70,000 litres of coloured paint 100ft into the sky and over the high-rise.
It took just under 10 seconds and under 70 kilos of explosives to blow down the multi-storey tower block made famous by the Sony Bravia TV advert.
The high-rise block at 24 Crossbank Road, Toryglen, was demolished to 12,000 tonnes of rubble and was once home to Simple Minds star Jim Kerr.
Sighthill
Sighthill before the redevelopment of the area (Image: Archive)
Sighthill is located in the North of Glasgow and was established in the 1960s. The area was bordered by a dual carriageway and a railway line.
The housing scheme featured 10 tower blocks. Some of the tower blocks were demolished in the early 2000s, and the remaining blocks were demolished in 2014.
We spoke to Julie Magill in 2016, who lived in Sighthill between 1979 and 2000, from the time she was born until she was 21 years old.
She said: 'I enjoyed playing in the blocks because you felt like you were out, but you were still inside, it was like having a massive play area. We used to play with balls under the bottoms of the flats until those were blocked off. I remember the wind whipping through the bottoms and nearly knocking you over when I was little.
'Initially everyone seemed to be the same, families out working hard and keeping the blocks and landings nice. Over time you noticed a lot of drug addicts and alcoholic types moving into landings and the place did start to go downhill.
'I think it's a pretty common feeling among a lot of my peers from the flats that it is ok for those of us who lived in the scheme to talk it down but to get annoyed to hear it from anyone else. Who are they to judge it? I wouldn't change the fact I lived there, I think it helped shape the person I am today.'
The area has been redeveloped, and it features a mix of housing types, including owner-occupiers, mid-market rent, and social housing by Wheatley.
(Image: Sourced)
We reported last month that a new master plan has been submitted, adding even more homes to an already large proposed Glasgow scheme.
Papers detail that after a review, applicant Keepmoat is bidding to build 1164 homes as part of the latest phase of the Sighthill Transformational Regeneration Area (TRA), as opposed to the previous 826 planned.
The work would continue the £250million project and focus on the connectivity of the North Glasgow site, including on foot, by bike and by car.
Documents reveal that this latest wave of housing would be located at the site bound by Pinkston Road, Pinkston Drive, Sighthill Park and Fountainwell Road.
Sandiefield Road Towers
The 24-storey blocks at 170 and 200 Sandiefield Road were demolished in 2013 (Image: Newsquest) The Sandiefield Road towers were demolished in 2013.
Two 24-storey blocks at 170 and 200 Sandiefield Road in Gorbals, Glasgow, were stripped on the inside before the controlled demolition using 229kg of explosives.
The towers were completed in 1971. They stood 69m tall and contained almost 400 flats.
Mitchellhill
Mitchellhill, Castlemilk being demolished (Image: Newsquest) On Sunday November 27th 2005, the skyline of Glasgow was dramatically changed for ever with the simultaneous demolition of the Five 20 Storey Mitchellhill Flats in Castlemilk.
The flats, built in 1965, took approximately 300 Kilos of explosives and were levelled in just 22 seconds.
We spoke to Jackie Muir in 2016, who lived in the Mitchelhill Flats in Castlemilk from 1963, at the age of one, until 1992.
She said: 'The times we spent there were the best of my life, happy memories. We only had two rooms and a living room, and there were five of us kids, mum, and dad.
'I remember my brothers playing 'dreepy', where they would climb the balcony at side of flat and dreepy down to the next one. What were they thinking of? We … went in and out of each other's houses, no doors locked in those days.
(Image: Newsquest) "Only thing I hated were the lifts – I used to shout eight flights up to our windows when I got older so my dad would come down in the lift to get me. I was the happiest I've ever been living anywhere else. The sense of community spirit and friendliness was second to none … I would go back to living there again in a second.'
Norfolk Court
Norfolk Court before demolition (Image: Archive) Designed by George Bowie, Chief Architect at Crudens (the company that also built Sighthill), the two blocks at Norfolk Court were approved in 1970 and completed in 1973.
The towers were demolished in 2016.
Norfolk Court was a fixture on the city skyline since the 1970s and once housed more than 270 families.
One of its most famous former residents was comedian and broadcaster Des Clarke.
(Image: Kirsty Anderson)
Stirlingfauld Place
The multi-storey flats at Stirlingfauld Place in the Gorbals are demolished (Image: Newsquest) The two Gorbals tower blocks were razed to the ground in 2008, with hundreds of people gathering to watch the dramatic event.
The blocks in Stirlingfauld Place were once home to up to 2000 people in the 552 flats. They were built between 1970 and 1973 at a cost of £1.8 million but it took £1m to demolish them.
A series of loud bangs in the area at 9.50am marked the end of the high-rise flats and the ground shook as the 23-storey blocks fell to the cheers of the crowds.