IN THE 1950s, Glasgow Corporation earmarked twenty-nine areas across the city as Comprehensive Development Areas.

Running out of building land to house the displaced families, the city leaders decided the only way was up and between 1955 and 1975, constructed 230 high-rise blocks of flats.

(This was more than in any other city in Europe, including in the communist bloc.)

Crathie Court in Partick (1950-1952) and Moss Heights in Cardonald (1950-1954) were the two prototype high rise projects which had been developed by the Director of Housing from 1943 to 1947.

Glasgow Times:

Crathie Court was completed by the Housing Department in 1952. Eight storeys high, it contained 88 bedsits for unmarried women, earning the nickname “spinster flats” in the city. Its construction set the scene for future high-rise council housing in Glasgow.

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Although only ten storeys high, Moss Heights was built on high ground, adding to its dramatic appearance. Once tenants had moved in, it was discovered that the lifts installed in the buildings were too small to carry coffins and large items of furniture. The problem was a foretaste of others to come when higher blocks were erected in the city

With the pressure to rehouse quickly and relatively densely, new high blocks started to rise around the city. These blocks were usually built quickly and cheaply, often through "package deals" with commercial contractors.

The Gorbals had been the first part of Glasgow to be promoted for comprehensive redevelopment under post-war planning legislation. Redevelopment plans for Hutchesontown received Government approval in 1957 and eminent architects were involved in the design of the high-rise housing.

Shortly afterwards, Laurieston was redeveloped for housing, including the enormous tower blocks which dominated Gorbals Cross. Much of the replacement housing was poorly designed or was impossible to maintain at economic cost. Particularly infamous were the damp-ridden Hutchesontown Area E flats, and Sir Basil Spence's 20-storey slab apartment blocks at Queen Elizabeth Square, demolished in 1987 and 1993 respectively.

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The build-them-high trend reached its peak with the construction of two 28-storey slab blocks and six 31-storey point blocks at Red Road,  which were designed for Glasgow Corporation in 1962 by Sam Bunton & Associates. At the time, they were the tallest residential blocks in Europe.

As with other high-rise schemes, poor planning and cost-cutting resulted in a lack of amenities, poor services and a high incidence of vandalism and other social problems.

In 1980, two of the blocks were declared unfit to live in. One was converted for student and executive use and another for the YMCA. In recent years, some of the Red Road flats housed Kosovan refugees and were later home to asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa, Asia, the former Soviet Union, Iran, and Iraq.

All of the Red Road flats were demolished in 2015.  Of the 230 high-rise blocks of council houses, only 67 remain.