Last chapter for Red Road as local author pens book ahead of demolition

Mar 17 2011

Red Road

SIGHTHILL'S towering Red Road flats have been an iconic Glasgow landmark for almost 50 years.

Seen as the future of social housing when they were built in the 1960s, for many early residents the flats were a vast improvement on the slums they called home.

Today, however, eight high-rise buildings are in sad decline and face demolition later this year.

Designed to house nearly 5000 residents, only a couple of thousand currently live there, many of them asylum-seekers.

Crime and and drug abuse are rife and last year tragedy struck the estate when a Russian family leapt to their deaths.

Now author Alison Irvine has written a book bringing Red Road to life.

Based on interviews with current and former residents and spanning the flats' existence, This Road Is Red explores the social history surrounding the development.

Speaking at the launch of the book at the Aye Write! Glasgow Book Festival, Alison said: "I thought it important to tell stories that spanned the five decades to show the changes and the community spirit in the area.

"The stories are honest, quirky, sometimes bleak and sometimes surprising. They are a record, too, of how the events of the last five decades have impacted on the Red Road community."

We've teamed up with the publishers to give readers the chance to win one of five copies of This Road Is Red.

To win a copy, just answer this question: How many buildings comprise the Red Road flats?

Send a postcard, including name, address and daytime phone number to Red Road Competition, Glaswegian, One Central Quay, Glasgow, G3 8DA.