Could Wyndford flats emulate London's 'Tower of Terror'?

Such was his aversion to the style of the building, writer Ian Fleming named a Bond villain after the architect.

Designed as social housing and completed in 1972, flats in the 31-storey tower block are large by conventional standards.

Goldfinger is said to have taken great care when designing the units. He called for dual pane glazing to help mitigate sound transmission and designed pivoting window systems for ease of cleaning.

Although, the Trellick Tower suffered from years of neglect, it has since redeemed itself and was in 1998 designated a Grade II listed building. CCTV and a concierge service led to a significant reduction in crime and thanks to construction improvements and maintenance, the tower is now regarded as a prime place to live.

Could this change in fortunes be replicated at four Glasgow high-rise buildings that are earmarked for demolition?

READ MORE: Wyndford flat campaigners urge council chiefs to 'do the right thing'

In just over two months, around 600 homes in the Wyndford area of Maryhill will be reduced to rubble and dust. 

Wheatley Homes Glasgow (WHG), wants to replace the blocks with 300 residential homes, in a project costing £73million and say they have the support of tenants who have requested larger homes – the majority have one bedroom – that are more energy efficient and cheaper to run.

It claims more than 90% of tenants have already left the buildings.

However, Wyndford Residents Union say the blocks could and should be retrofitted to achieve these goals rather than, “blowing up a community”. 

The group has led a determined and impassioned campaign, the twists and turns of which have been closely followed by The Herald. 

Tenants were dealt a major blow last week after an application to apply for listed status – which would guarantee the survival of the tower blocks – was rejected by Historic Environment Scotland and it would seem the fate of the high-rise buildings is now sealed.

READ MORE: Arrests made as Glasgow high-rise flats campaigners occupy buildings

The campaign to save the flats has drawn support from Scots architect Professor Alan Dunlop who described the flats as “historic”.

However, another Glasgow architect, Gordon Gibb, who has in-depth working knowledge of the tower blocks, believes it would be very difficult to fully insulate the building.

"Recladding failed on some," he said.

“There has to be an economic argument around spending more money on fixing them and against demolishing them and building a more attractive and higher amenity low-rise development on that very nice site on the north bank of the Kelvin.”

He cites the “clever design” of London’s Trellick tower and Balfron (its predecessor) which ensured that communal areas – or streets – were heavily populated, creating a safer environment for all.

“The big problem with communal living at height is the empty communal areas with occasional people passing through them,” he says.

“When you put a lot of density of occupation into a ‘street in the sky’, the residents are more secure because there is more friendly traffic and outsiders are more war

“It is called defensible space," he added. “It works well in tenements because you are wary in a close or stairwell if you are not a resident.”

The towers and modern schemes that failed the most quickly, he says, were either those that did not work well thermally and those which had lengthy, unobserved communal spaces and routes between flat and safety outside.

Similar campaigns were mounted to save Glasgow’s infamous Red Road flats, in Springburn, which once housed 5000 people but were finally condemned in 2008.

They were supposed to solve the problem of affordable housing but instead came to represent all that was wrong with high-rise living.

A fire on the 23rd floor which killed a 12-year-old boy in 1977 led to many labelling them a hazard and families started to move out.

Perhaps tellingly the final block to be cleared before demolition was home to asylum seekers.

While some residents had fond memories of the community that grew up around Red Road, others remember the poor living conditions and rapid decline of the development, which was owned by Glasgow Housing Association.

The economic argument for demolition might well stack up but housing groups have has a moral obligation to listen to tenants and handle demolition projects with sensitivity.

Previous actions, however reveal that this was not always the case.

At one point plans were mooted to blow-up the Red Road flats as part of the Commonwealth Games 2014 opening ceremony before they were shelved due to public outrage while court orders were granted to remove people from the area who threatened to form a “human shield” to halt the demolition.

Vikki McCall, a lecturer in social policy and housing at Stirling University, said at the time that Red Road residents had been stigmatised in order to justify a political decision not to invest in the buildings.

READ MORE: 'No evidence' to support keeping Glasgow tower blocks

Indeed, campaigners say years of neglect by a series of social landlords has seen the Wyndford flats deteriorate. 

Whatever the outcome – and as it stands it looks as if it will not go in their favour – what is unequivocal is that Glasgow, in common with many other Scottish towns and cities, has a major shortage of social housing.

More than 60,000 people have been listed as waiting for a home in the city, the most recent statistics show.

The number is equivalent to “10 applicants waiting on housing registers for every home let during the previous 12 months,” the council’s draft local housing strategy said.

Wheatley Homes say around 255 of the 300 new homes will be for social housing, with the remaining 45 classed as “affordable” but a far wider commitment is required from council and government leaders to replicate the unquestionable capacity of high-rise "streets in the sky".