Glasgow has 76,000 pre-1919 homes - around 23% of the city's housing stock - and 70,000 of these are tenement flats. These homes are a key part of Glasgow's built heritage, and the council aims to develop a repair and maintenance strategy with registered private landlords and private owners for such properties.
The council has allocated grant funding to assist private owners who carry out works on such properties on a voluntary basis.
For some time now, the council has been working with local housing associations in the Cessnock and Ibrox areas to identify pre-1919 tenement blocks most in need of rehabilitation. As part of this process - which saw action taken to safeguard four tenements in Harley Street and Ibrox Street were declared dangerous - it was established that a partnership between the council and Govan Housing Association was the best way to deliver the required programme of works.
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The partnership strategy will cover 295 pre-1919 buildings in 33 blocks in Ibrox / Cessnock, and has the following objectives:
• Tackling disrepair within the pre-1919 tenements stock;
• A programme of preventative maintenance, including promotion of factoring more properties through Govan Housing Association;
• Eliminating poor private landlord practice to ensure high levels of compliance, with the council using new legislative powers;
• The creation of a sustainable tenure balance through targeted acquisitions;
• Empty homes and abandoned ground floor shops brought back to use for social housing; and
• Addressing environmental issues.
The local community will also be partners in this work, to encourage participation, maintain improved property and help shape future improvements.
The council will use Compulsory Purchase Order (CPO) powers to facilitate essential repair works or bring back empty shops and flats into use. The council has already used such powers to promote CPOs (four vacant flats and two empty shops) in the area.
As part of city-wide monitoring of pre-1919 properties, 50 tenements in Ibrox / Cessnock were surveyed using drones and thermal imaging, with the findings informing future work programmes.
(MH/CM)
