DEVASTATED Ibrox residents say they could face up to one year to regain access to their properties after an emergency evacuation last week.
Locals have been left with little or no belongings after a tenement block on Copland Road was deemed unsafe for purpose.
One resident said: “My record player, my couch, my bed, my telly, all my furniture and all my other clothes are just gone.
“We’ve been told it could be at least a year before we can get back in or get access to our belongings again.”
Glasgow City Council, however, say they can’t say they how long work on the building will last as residents have been placed in temporary accommodation.
It comes after we reported yesterday that scores of locals across eight flats had to immediately vacate the premises.
The decision was taken when surveyors were called to inspect the building following works to the tenement’s roof last on November 30.
READ MORE: Copland Road: Police 'batter doors down' of Glasgow flat during 'weed farm' raid
The resident added: “As far as I know there was a problem with the roof so builders came out with scaffolding, a cherry-picker and so on.
“That was an emergency situation in itself, then they got a surveyor to come and look at the building and they noticed that the support in the walls of the basement was buckled.
The walls that were holding the building up were completely corroded.
“The workers told us they reckon it could have collapsed at any time.
“This happened at around 10.30pm at night and we were given around 30 minutes to collect our belongings. I’ve got hardly anything. I’ve got a week’s worth of clothes but everything else has gone.”
Those living in the homes revealed that despite not having access to their belongings, they are thankful to have their lives.
“The situation isn’t ideal, but it could have been a lot, lot worse so I’m obviously very grateful for that. Thankfully, I’m at home with my parents for the time being so I’m in an alright situation, it isn’t desperate. I know there is at least one of my neighbours who owns their flat, so I have no idea what they’re going to do. It’ll be a financial nightmare,” one resident said.
Another added: “It’s concerning that we’ve been living in this building for years now and this has only been discovered. The situation could have been a whole lot worse if there hadn’t been an unrelated problem with the roof.
“It’s a pain we don’t have our belongings or our homes, but we’re lucky to have our lives.”
The problem with the building was discovered as police busted a “cannabis cultivation” at the same address. Police forced entry to the address and retrieved a number of cannabis plants.
A Glasgow City Council spokesman said: “At this stage, it is not possible to say how long the necessary repair work that would allow the residents to return to their homes will take.
“This is a matter for the owners and their factors and engineers to instruct these required works and our Building Standards team will offer whatever advice and support they can.”
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here