Towerblock residents come down to earth with new homes

Jun 11 2009

FORMER high rise tenants are celebrating this week after coming down to earth to live in ground level homes with their very own gardens.

Glasgow Housing Association (GHA) has completed its new-build programme for 104 brand new homes at Mansel Street and Avonspark Street in the city's north.

The third site of the redevelopment programme will be completed in Barmulloch at the end of this month means GHA will have delivered 239 new-build homes involving an investment of £24.5 million.

Most of the new tenants in Mansel Street and Avonspark Street have been rehoused from properties earmarked for demolition in the Red Road flats, with some other tenants re-housed from Barmulloch, Sighthill and Germiston multi-storeys. Retired shop assistant Sadie Henderson, 71, who lives in Avonspark Street, is delighted with her terraced home.

Sadie said: "I lived in the Red Road multi-storeys for 40 years, and lately I watched these homes being built from my window on the 22nd floor and they looked so great.

"It's like a different world - it's warm, with gas central heating and an electric cooker and shower, and I have so much more space than before too.

"My kitchen is bigger and it's great to be able to open my back door and put my washing out. The garden is great, really quiet, and it's a nice wee sun trap too. I sit out the back and have my dinner and have a blether with my neighbour."