14/4/2008'Ecotowers' plaza plan to save city high-rises
PLANS have been unveiled to turn a dozen high-rises facing demolition into "ecotowers".
Developer Paul Mugnaioni claims the condemned blocks, and the reputation of multi-storeys in Glasgow, can be "rehabilitated" to become affordable private apartments.
He says his proposals would be 23 times 'greener' than current plans to demolish and build new houses on the sites.
Mr Mugnaioni, director of housing at Glasgow City Council in the 1980s, wants to transform two multistoreys in Laurieston, next to the successful New Gorbals scheme, into "ecotowers" - called Laurieston Plaza - as well as three in Ibrox and one in Maryhill used as a backdrop in the comedy series Still Game.
He claims that by saving the costs of demolition - £6m for Norfolk Court alone - and buying the blocks from Glasgow Housing Association, the public purse would also benefit.
Two of the four towers in Laurieston are to be demolished this summer and it had previously been claimed the proposals to retain Norfolk Court would delay the planned regeneration of the area, with the resident-led steering committee having rejected the scheme.
It's understood Mr Mugnaioni has also been told by senior figures in the city council they are hostile to the plan, with concerns over car parking and the need to amend the city plan.
But Mr Mugnaioni is confident he will be able to persuade the owners of the blocks, GHA, and the steering committee to save the remaining two, claiming they will become an anchor development for the wider regeneration of the area.
Norfolk Court would provide a template for the other high-rises, with external walls removed and reclad in thermally-efficient glass, with wind turbines providing much of the power.
Mr Mugnaioni said: "It took a vast amount of energy to build Glasgow's high rises, and our engineering reports say they were so well constructed they are built to last for 90 to 100 years.
"Those engineers have found it is 23 times more energy efficient to take those sturdy frames and completely re-clad them in the most thermally efficient glass and steel materials rather than demolish and rebuild."
But Fraser Stewart, director of New Gorbals Housing Association, said the ecotowers would "compromise what is probably the single biggest housing-led regeneration project in the UK."
Mar 10
Developer Paul Mugnaioni claims the condemned blocks, and the reputation of multi-storeys in Glasgow, can be "rehabilitated" to become affordable private apartments.
He says his proposals would be 23 times 'greener' than current plans to demolish and build new houses on the sites.
Mr Mugnaioni, director of housing at Glasgow City Council in the 1980s, wants to transform two multistoreys in Laurieston, next to the successful New Gorbals scheme, into "ecotowers" - called Laurieston Plaza - as well as three in Ibrox and one in Maryhill used as a backdrop in the comedy series Still Game.
He claims that by saving the costs of demolition - £6m for Norfolk Court alone - and buying the blocks from Glasgow Housing Association, the public purse would also benefit.
Two of the four towers in Laurieston are to be demolished this summer and it had previously been claimed the proposals to retain Norfolk Court would delay the planned regeneration of the area, with the resident-led steering committee having rejected the scheme.
It's understood Mr Mugnaioni has also been told by senior figures in the city council they are hostile to the plan, with concerns over car parking and the need to amend the city plan.
But Mr Mugnaioni is confident he will be able to persuade the owners of the blocks, GHA, and the steering committee to save the remaining two, claiming they will become an anchor development for the wider regeneration of the area.
Norfolk Court would provide a template for the other high-rises, with external walls removed and reclad in thermally-efficient glass, with wind turbines providing much of the power.
Mr Mugnaioni said: "It took a vast amount of energy to build Glasgow's high rises, and our engineering reports say they were so well constructed they are built to last for 90 to 100 years.
"Those engineers have found it is 23 times more energy efficient to take those sturdy frames and completely re-clad them in the most thermally efficient glass and steel materials rather than demolish and rebuild."
But Fraser Stewart, director of New Gorbals Housing Association, said the ecotowers would "compromise what is probably the single biggest housing-led regeneration project in the UK."
Mar 10