A risk assessment admits there is a danger of explosion and injury to the public including children from one of Scotland's biggest proposed demolition projects.

A "residual risk" document which was sent to Glasgow City Council to support the plans to demolish four 26-storey towers at Wyndford in the Maryhill area has uncovered a series of serious potential dangers, including damage to neighbouring properties and the prospect of claims.

It has led to calls from local campaigners for Scotland's biggest publicly funded housing association Wheatley Group to abandon the £73m plans.

According to construction experts residual risk refers to what remains after efforts to identify and eliminate dangers have been made through controls.

Anti-demolition campaigners believe the document is a "gamechanger" and should be the beginning of the end of the plans saying the dangers are "unacceptable".

Wheatley initially said that it was actually a "standard risk assessment" which would allow contractors to put in place measures to "eliminate or mitigate" the risks identified. They said concerned campaigners were "scaremongering".

When the Herald explained what "residual risks" were, they responded saying that the document had been "mistitled".

The analysis prepared for Wheatley by G3 Consulting Engineers and submitted in September consists of a map of the proposed demolition area with red triangles marking spots where there are "site specific risks".

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The blocks have been earmarked for demolition by the housing association which wants to replace the existing 600 social housing units – only around 10 percent of which are still occupied – with 300 new homes.

Wheatley say the project will replace the "dated and unpopular blocks" with affordable family homes, 255 of which will be for social rent.

The Herald:

The residual risk document states that there are water mains, electric cables, gas and BT cables present within the site boundary and a "risk of electrocution, explosion and damage to plant/equipment."

The document also warns that demolition works are in "close proximity to nearby buildings" and a "risk of damage and potential claims from neighbouring properties".

Buildings referenced include the Maryhill Hub community facility, residential properties, a central heating plant and an adjacent church, understood to be St Gregory's Catholic Church.

References to the 'site residual risks' were also referenced in a Wheatley Group email uncovered after Nick Durie, of the Wyndford residents union sought information the housing group held about him.

Dated December 14, 2022, it references a Facebook post by Mr Durie about Wyndford which was "getting no traction, no likes, shares or comments in the first 24 hours".

It then references the red triangle risks and adds: "The sort of info he may jump on".

The document also references risks of injury "by mobile plant" and risks of accidents with vehicles.

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It references that there is a "risk of contaminating a water course", understood to be the River Kelvin.

And it also lists risks associated with telephone poles and overhead cables and an associated danger of "damage and disruption to services".

Mr Durie said the demolition should not be allowed to go ahead in the wake of the "revelations".

The Herald:

"It is clearly too risky," he said. "And there are no benefits with massive costs to the community."

"I stay 15 metres from one of the blocks to be demolished and if it were to fall on its side, my house would be crushed."

The Scottish Tenants Organisation said that the danger assessment was a "bombshell" and said the "catalogue of major risks" were "unacceptable", leaving the proposed demolition plan "in tatters".

"These demolition proposals have to be abandoned now," the STO said.

The STO and the residents union believe the flats can be safely retained and retrofitted. But Wheatley say that it is too difficult and expensive.

Campaigners have been attempting to save the flats using various routes including achieving listed status and by occupation.

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Historic Environment Scotland, however, said it has assessed the flats and they do not meet the criteria.

Opponents of demolition had pinned their hopes on the heritage body to intervene decisively but HES found that later alterations had undermined the authenticity of the structures.

That is despite HES's previous incarnation Historic Scotland previously finding that the historic estate, set within the grounds of a former army barracks, 'was of some note'.

The Project Management Institute's flagship publication the PMBOK Guide defines residual risks as those "that are expected to remain after the planned response of risk has been taken, as well as well as those that have been deliberately accepted.”

STO campaign co-ordinator Sean Clerkin said: "It looks like a disaster waiting to happen. I think this is a gamechanger for Wyndford. It will go a long way to willing the flats demolition off."

Wyndford estate was designed by Ernest Buteux, chief technical officer for the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA) from 1959-78. He was thought to be influenced by the designs of Le Corbusier – the father of modern architecture. It was built on a 55 acre site at the old Maryhill barracks, was estimated to cost £4m.

The anti-demolition campaign is been backed by leading Scottish architects Alan Dunlop, Kate Macintosh and Malcolm Fraser.

Mr Dunlop described architect Ernest Buteux’s vision for Wyndford as embodying ‘the spirit of Le Corbusier’ and having ‘historic importance'.

Mr Fraser has said that vast amounts of carbon will be wasted if the tower blocks are demolished rather than refurbished.

He says knocking the flats down would effectively release 47,000 tonnes of embodied carbon and has produced a report suggesting they could be retrofitted with a different design.

The term "embodied carbon" describes the amount of greenhouse gas emissions used to create the fabric of a building, such as concrete and steel - which are very energy intensive.

Wheatley say a report by a leading UK environmental and sustainability architect has made clear there is "little or no basis" to argue for the retention of the existing blocks on the grounds of either energy efficiency or CO2(e) emissions.

A Wheatley Homes Glasgow spokesperson said: “Anyone who knows anything about planning and regeneration knows a standard risk assessment is carried out on every aspect of the proposals.

“This enables contractors to put in place all of the measures to eliminate and/or mitigate potential risks identified.

“That is what this report, which was compiled more than a year ago, is all about. It’s regrettable, but not surprising, a small group of activists continues to scaremonger for their own self interests.

“Tenants fully realise this. That’s proven by their overwhelming support for the fantastic new homes that will be built at Wyndford and the fact over 98% of tenants in the four blocks have happily and successfully moved already into much more suitable accommodation in areas of their choice.”

Last month, the city council said it intended to take a formal process to decide whether an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) would be required. They said a 'Prior Approval' application for the demolition would not be complete until an EIA screening opinion was adopted by the council.