Glasgow agrees partnership to improve pre-1919 tenement blocks

Glasgow City Council is to team up with Govan Housing Association to tackle the condition of pre-1919 homes in the city’s Ibrox and Cessnock areas.The increase in supply and improvement of quality of housing is a key part of Glasgow’s Housing Strategy, with a priority of managing, maintaining and improving the existing housing stock.Tackling the condition of the 76,000 pre-1919 homes in the city (almost a quarter of Glasgow’s housing stock), 70,000 of which are tenement flats, is therefore important in meeting some of the aims of this strategy.The council has in recent years been looking at the condition of a number of pre-1919 blocks in Ibrox Street and Cessnock Street that have been declared dangerous, where it was recognised that – in order to deliver the programme of necessary works – a partnership between the council and Govan Housing Association was required.Through the partnership, a number of strategic objectives have been agreed:tackling disrepair within the pre-1919 tenement stock;a programme of preventative maintenance via promotion of Govan Housing Association’s factoring services;eliminating poor private landlord practice to ensure high levels of compliance;creating a sustainable tenure balance through targeted acquisitions;bringing empty homes and abandoned ground floor shops back into use for social housing; andaddressing environmental issuesThe partnership’s work will cover an area of 33 blocks of 295 pre-1919 tenements, bounded by Midlock Street (west) Brand Street (north), Harley Street (east) and Paisley Road West (south) – with these blocks prioritised for funding or statutory action. More than half of these homes are privately rented.The council will use compulsory purchase orders in the area to acquire some properties, transferring ownership to Govan Housing Association, and will also target empty homes with a view to bringing them back into productive use.Landlord registration will be essential to this work, and the council will use regulations from the Private Landlord Registration (Information) (Scotland) Regulations 2019 to ensure that landlords provide information on fire, gas and electrical safety, smoke and heat detection, energy performance, and building insurance in their properties.