The quality of employment declined. Skilled steel workers are out of job and working on the River Clyde was hard work which never paid enough.
People were living in slum conditions. The old Victorian houses were wearing out and were beyond repair. Tenements became the most popular type of building in Glasgow. The tenements were 4-5 storeys high with 3-4 flats on each floor and were made mostly of stone. The tenements were built all over the city to house people who moved from the countryside to the city to look for work. Rubbish dumps at the back of the tenements became filthy and were invested with rats. The rats got inside the flats and lived inside the empty basements.
Home districts of tenements which were mainly houses from Victorian times were knocked down. Many people were re-housed in very different types of buildings. People wanted new, improved renovated areas, but got high rise tower blocks.
At the time, it was seen as a solution to all the problems, but it caused many new problems. In many of the new buildings, there were no hot water, bathrooms or lavatories. The high rise flats lead to large gaps in the city’s landscape. While development continued in the city centre, many large towers and council estates were being built in the suburbs.
A common problem for the residents living in the flats was the structure of the building itself. Pieces of the building were falling apart and becoming a dangerous hazard. There were holes in the walls and dampness was a serious problem.
High rise flats were only one part of the redevelopment schemes. Land was cleared for something else, it was the idea of “knocking down the old and bringing in the new”. Glasgow got one of the most elaborate scheme for motorways. It is the only city with a motorway which cuts through the city with no break.
It’s not only the appearance of Glasgow that has been changed by redevelopment. The city’s population have too. The clearance of land in the city, the work on the motorways and housing in the flats has caused a rapid decrease in population. Some districts have lost as many as two thirds of its population in the last 30 years. Many people have been forced to move to the boundary of the city to avoid homelessness. The population of the inner city have decreased whilst the city has grown in the edge.
The estates being built did provide housing for 200,000 people, but has caused many problems. Social problems of the included families and communities being split up.
In 1976, the city began a urban renewal scheme, which cost over 100 million pounds. The plan was to build new industrial estates in areas where there were high numbers of unemployment. This has been a success and have provided new jobs. Instead of demolishing the old buildings, they are being renovated. It is cheaper to re-modernise them rather than start building new houses. Some flats are knocked together, they have been re-wired, re-plumbed and completely been re-made inside. People still have their friends and neighbours nearby. The people are very happy about the scheme. Although they feel that some buildings shouldn’t be knocked down. Around 10,000 families have been re-housed in the new tenements in the inner city. Improving the past has been very successful.
Today, the industry have virtually disappeared from the inner city. The docks are far away from the inner city, they are at the mouth of the River Clyde. There is only one shipyard left in the inner city. The city’s last iron steelworks are now gone forever. Many people are beginning to ask whether the schemes were worth it at all. Old jobs including working in the steel factories have now disappeared forever and the landscape has been dramatically changed. The city is still suffering, at present the city is losing 25,000 people a year.
