Remembering Glasgow's Red Road flats

These smiling workers, pictured in a spectacular shot of the buildings’ construction, were fearless posing for the cameras.

The story of the Red Road flats began in 1962, when architect Sam Bunton came up with the designs for Glasgow Corporation, although the eight-block project was not completed until 1969 when around 4700 people were living in towers of up to 30 storeys. They were officially opened 55 years ago this week on October 28, 1966.

They dominated the Springburn skyline – and public debate around the pros and cons of high rises – for 50 years, until demolition removed them from the map between 2012 and 2015.

They were created as an answer to the city’s housing problems, a way to provide safe homes for thousands of families existing in slum conditions. However, in the 1970s complaints were made about growing anti-social behaviour and a lack of accessible facilities. Latterly, the Red Road development housed asylum seekers.

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A plan to blow up five of the remaining blocks during the Opening Ceremony of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games was scrapped amid criticism it was insensitive because of the vulnerability of residents and particularly after the deaths in 2010 of the Serykh family, who jumped from their balcony.

In 1969, Conservative MP Enoch Powell - who had made the controversial ‘rivers of blood’ immigration speech the previous year, visited the flats. He spoke to local children and was photographed with Jack Sorbie, the prospective Tory candidate for Springburn.