Glasgow Latest 7

[Pious Fraud]

Originally Posted by لا إله إلا الله

piece of history *fantastic image*

Welcome to the forum.

There are some good images of Glasgow available on the BBC Scotland website.

This one, for example, was taken on Sunday 19th February at 07.24 am...

The following one was probably taken about 20 minutes later...

More photos here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17153094

[Pious Fraud]

Hypostyle complete Scotstoun backcourt housing

Urban Realm 29th February 2012

Hypostyle Architects have completed work on an innovative backcourt development of a Victorian tenement block at Fore Street, Glasgow.

Occupying a tight site enclosed by tenements and with only a modest £1.5m budget available from Whiteinch & Scotstoun Housing Association the architects have inserted 15 affordable homes; including 8 flats, 4 cottage flats and 3 detached houses.

Accessed via a pend built into a new build block of flats the development replaces a former bakery and car repair workshop which had fallen into a state of disrepair.

Addressing issues of privacy, access and the provision of amenity space the development is built around an intimate pedestrian lane with properties arranged at either side, with principal rooms given a southerly aspect.

A staggered layout affords each property an unobstructed vantage over intermediate spaces which have been landscaped to form garden courtyards.

Cool little project

http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/3386/...ml#comment4036

[milton]

Originally Posted by Pious Fraud

Hypostyle complete Scotstoun backcourt housing

Urban Realm 29th February 2012

Hypostyle Architects have completed work on an innovative backcourt development of a Victorian tenement block at Fore Street, Glasgow.

Occupying a tight site enclosed by tenements and with only a modest £1.5m budget available from Whiteinch & Scotstoun Housing Association the architects have inserted 15 affordable homes; including 8 flats, 4 cottage flats and 3 detached houses.

Accessed via a pend built into a new build block of flats the development replaces a former bakery and car repair workshop which had fallen into a state of disrepair.

Addressing issues of privacy, access and the provision of amenity space the development is built around an intimate pedestrian lane with properties arranged at either side, with principal rooms given a southerly aspect.

A staggered layout affords each property an unobstructed vantage over intermediate spaces which have been landscaped to form garden courtyards.

Cool little project

http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/3386/...ml#comment4036

Excellent stuff. There are umpteen lanes and back courts in Finneston and the West End that could do with this sort of thing. So many old mews and gardens are either demolished or overgrown and fucked these days.

[M_Riaz]

Its very nice indeed, but i feel they could have broken up the beige brick with other palletes mixed in, some slate, marble maybe even another different color of brick to make it look that wee bit more special of a build.

Yes many more back yard courts all over the city could do with this kind of rebuilding,revamping... love the shine off the stone on the tenements, a good example of fine and quality workmanship.

[Ultima]

Love the idea of micro-communities within established terraced developments. Brings more people into the respective areas without having to smash cheap flats into the peripherals or gap sites where they are totally inappropriate.

[Pious Fraud]

Originally Posted by M_Riaz

Yes many more back yard courts all over the city could do with this kind of rebuilding,revamping...

Yes, Mo.

Glasgow is fortunate to have hundreds of these backcourt spaces, and great things can be done with them.

Here's an example of what one citizen did...

How Eric created a back court oasis

Eric Kay

'Ten years ago, the back court behind Eric Kay’s West End home was a dingy, rubbish-filled mess.

Paths were covered in litter, and dumped furniture was piled high against the tenement walls. Overgrown plants and trees blocked out the light and binmen had to pick their way through mountains of trash even to get close to the bins.

“It was awful – a real jungle, with stuff lying everywhere,” recalls Eric. “So, the people who live here decided to do something about it.”'

Before...

After...

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/e...asis-1.1103435

[M_Riaz]

Aye that chap Eric done a great job, wish there were more determination from folks like him to clean up the back courts , would make all the difference to all areas in the city.

[RapidTaco]

Originally Posted by Pious Fraud

Hypostyle complete Scotstoun backcourt housing

Urban Realm 29th February 2012

Hypostyle Architects have completed work on an innovative backcourt development of a Victorian tenement block at Fore Street, Glasgow.

Occupying a tight site enclosed by tenements and with only a modest £1.5m budget available from Whiteinch & Scotstoun Housing Association the architects have inserted 15 affordable homes; including 8 flats, 4 cottage flats and 3 detached houses.

Accessed via a pend built into a new build block of flats the development replaces a former bakery and car repair workshop which had fallen into a state of disrepair.

Addressing issues of privacy, access and the provision of amenity space the development is built around an intimate pedestrian lane with properties arranged at either side, with principal rooms given a southerly aspect.

A staggered layout affords each property an unobstructed vantage over intermediate spaces which have been landscaped to form garden courtyards.

Cool little project

http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/3386/...ml#comment4036

This is VERY smart indeed.

[Pious Fraud]

Good News For Auld Reekie!

Green bank headquarters to be based in Edinburgh

BBC News 8th March 2012

The headquarters of the UK's Green Investment Bank will be based in Edinburgh after the city beat off competition from 18 other cities.

The bank is being set up with £3bn of public money to help firms finance early-stage renewable energy schemes.

The organisation will be split, and will also have offices in London.

Scottish Secretary Michael Moore said it was a huge vote of confidence in Edinburgh's financial sector and Scotland's role in the "green economy".

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotlan...-fife-17298240

[Squirrelking]

I agree more should be done with the existing back courts, building in them isn't necessarily the best answer but opening them up, deleting the walls and lanes and turning them into private communal areas would be a massive improvement on what they have at the moment.

Even just allowing the residents to undertake the works themselves (subject to cleansing access and things like that) would be a start. Look at the work the unofficial garden groups have been doing on West Princes Street and Clouston Street in the West End. Thats the sort of thing the council should be actively encouraging and helping (if only in rubbish clearance at the very least) rather than trying to close down.

[Pious Fraud]

Originally Posted by Squirrelking

I agree more should be done with the existing back courts, building in them isn't necessarily the best answer but opening them up, deleting the walls and lanes and turning them into private communal areas would be a massive improvement on what they have at the moment.

Even just allowing the residents to undertake the works themselves (subject to cleansing access and things like that) would be a start. Look at the work the unofficial garden groups have been doing on West Princes Street and Clouston Street in the West End. Thats the sort of thing the council should be actively encouraging and helping (if only in rubbish clearance at the very least) rather than trying to close down.

This is what I'd like to see happening on a grand scale in Glasgow, Squirrelking...

The £1.25m backcourt clean-up

Work gets under way to bring new heart to area dubbed a modern slum

Evening Times 8th March 2012

AN area dubbed Glasgow’s worst modern day slum is being tackled with a £1.25million scheme to renovate tenement backcourts.

Areas in Govanhill, in the South Side, have been blighted by fly tipping and flats have been left to rot by rogue landlords.

But a new initiative is working to revamp the community’s backcourts – and create 60 jobs and training opportunities for local people.

The Backcourts Improvement And Employability Initiative will see £1.25m spent improving and upgrading the backcourts of four tenemental blocks in the south-west of the district.

More here: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/t...slum-1.1151750

[Squirrelking]

I'd be interested to see how the figures break down, £1.25m to train 60 people (I'm gonne take a stab in the dark and say £5k per head = £300k) and to spend on improvements (£237,500 per block) is quite a sum.

Don't get me wrong, I appreciate the initiative but that looks like a hell of an expense compared to what the end product is. If anyone knows better, please, by all means correct me but surely the material costs can't be that high?

GHA also want more money to maintain it? In the previous article the residents only need to give it a sweep, an occasional tidy and some garden maintenance (weeding & pruning) which is hardly cost intensive. In fact what exactly are they being paid for if not the maintenance and upkeep of the area in the first place?

[Due East]

Originally Posted by Pious Fraud

This is what I'd like to see happening on a grand scale in Glasgow, Squirrelking...

The £1.25m backcourt clean-up

Work gets under way to bring new heart to area dubbed a modern slum

Evening Times 8th March 2012

AN area dubbed Glasgow’s worst modern day slum is being tackled with a £1.25million scheme to renovate tenement backcourts.

Areas in Govanhill, in the South Side, have been blighted by fly tipping and flats have been left to rot by rogue landlords.

But a new initiative is working to revamp the community’s backcourts – and create 60 jobs and training opportunities for local people.

The Backcourts Improvement And Employability Initiative will see £1.25m spent improving and upgrading the backcourts of four tenemental blocks in the south-west of the district.

More here: http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/t...slum-1.1151750

Kind of torn on this one...

On one hand i'm glad to see these backcourts being tidied up.

On the other, its ploughing scarce money into an area where people have made no effort to look after their own area (i mean - tipping refuse and even fridges out the window ) and there is no real guarantee things won't slip back into disrepair soon.

I've just had to pay £1300 for the upkeep of the back close and minor repairs - wonder if i can claim some money

[hifive605]

Originally Posted by RapidTaco

This is VERY smart indeed.

Am I missing something here? these are featureless and TINY houses. They look like prefab temporary housing for builders working on the real buildings surrounding the site!

[Pious Fraud]

The following article provides a good example of how neglected spaces within a city can be put to excellent use...

The Vegetable Gardeners Of Havana

'Around Cuba's capital Havana, it is quite remarkable how often you see a neatly tended plot of land right in the heart of the city.

Sometimes smack bang between tower block estates or next door to the crumbling colonial houses, fresh fruit and vegetables are growing in abundance.

Some of the plots are small - just a few rows of lettuces and radishes being grown in an old parking space.

Other plots are much larger - the size of several football pitches.

Havana has almost 200 urban allotments - known as organiponicos - providing four million tonnes of vegetables every year - helping the country to become 90% self-sufficient in fruit and vegetables.

Alamo Organiponico is one of the larger co-operatives, employing 170 people, built on a former rubbish tip that produces 240 tonnes of vegetables a year.

"We produce all different kinds of vegetables," says farmer Emilio Andres, who is proud of the fact that his allotment feeds the local community.

"We sell to the people, the school, the hospital, also to the restaurant and the hotel.

"It's important because it's grown in the city, it's fresh food for the people, it's healthy food, and it provides jobs for the people here too."

Full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8213617.stm

Havana: Cuba's 'Dear Green Place'

Four million tonnes of vegetables are grown in this urban environment every year

~o0o~


Havana is one of Glasgow's twin cities

[loose canon]

The method we use that works well for back courts get the shrubs cut hard back and cut twice a year weed kill twice a year cut the grass nine times min a year take the bulk out every week clean the bin stores whenever they need done all this for £25.00 p.a per owner and it makes a real difference regular maintenance to an area

[Pious Fraud]

SECC strikes gold as talk-in venue

GLASGOW COMPLEX VOTED BEST IN UK FOR BUSINESS FORUMS

Evening Times 9th March 2012

GLASGOW has struck double gold to confirm its status as Britain’s conference capital.

The SECC has won a gold award after being chosen as the best conference venue in the UK while the city’s marketing men are judged to be the best in the business.

Glasgow City Marketing Bureau beat rivals from Birmingham, Jersey, Stoke on Trent and Newcastle-Gateshead after contenders from London, Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Yorkshire failed to make the shortlist.

It’s the first Scottish city to win the top prize six times and is a major boost to the bureau which generates millions of pounds in revenue every year for the Glasgow economy.

Bureau chairman Councillor Gordon Matheson, leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “This award, which is recognised as the industry’s gold standard, demonstrates not only a resounding vote of confidence in Glasgow by conference organisers and buyers, but also the co-ordinated approach taken by Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and the SECC in the drive to bring business tourism to the city.

“Winning this award is fantastic news for Glasgow and underpins exactly why we are Scotland’s conference capital.”

Aileen Crawford, head of conventions at the bureau, added: “To win this award and to have received such recognition from our clients really means a lot.

“It is for everyone in the city who works so hard year after year to make Glasgow a fantastic, first-choice conference destination and it’s incredibly motivating too.”

And the SECC made it a memorable awards night for Glasgow at a gala dinner at London’s Park Plaza Westminster Bridge Hotel which attracted 600 industry leaders from around the world.

The riverside complex picked up the top gold award when it was chosen as Best UK Conference Centre for the fourth time in five years ahead of the RBS Williams F1 Conference Centre in Grove, Oxfordfshire, and the Burleigh Court and Lane End Conference Centre in the Midlands.

Ben Goedegebuure, sales director at the SEEC, commented: “This is a stunning endorsement of Glasgow’s meetings industry and underlines our status as leaders and innovators in business tourism both domestically and internationally.

“We work closely with the city through Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and we couldn’t be more delighted with their well deserved award.”

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/s...rums-1.1151993

[RapidTaco]

Fantastic news for the city!

[Pious Fraud]

Windfall for city MARKETING VALUE

Seven years after organisation set up, figures show conference benefit to city

Evening Times 13th March 2012

MORE than £800million has been generated for Glasgow after campaigns made the city one of the world’s leading conference venues.

In the last six years hundreds of thousands of delegates from around the globe have spent a total of £827million in the city.

And conference venues, snack bars, restaurants, pubs, clubs, cinemas, theatres and Style Mile shops have all benefited.

Conferences are big business and marketing chiefs have promoted Glasgow world-wide since the launch of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) in April 2005.

It was responsible for the hugely successful Glasgow: Scotland With Style brand and figures now reveal the massive cash boost its marketing team has brought to the city.

The hospitality sector across Glasgow has been cashing in too – it’s estimated that delegates spent three million nights at hotels.

Marketing chiefs say just in the last year alone they brought £120m worth of conference business to Glasgow – 10% up year-on-year, or around an extra £12m.

The marketing team’s skills to sell Scotland’s leading conference city came to the fore from November to February when they secured bookings for 99 events to be held over the next three years – a mix of medical, corporate, scientific, sporting and financial conferences.

BUREAU chairman and leader of Glasgow City Council Gordon Matheson praised the marketing team led by chief executive Scott Taylor for its “phenomenal achievement”.

He said: “Glasgow is never complacent about its conventions business. For us it’s personal.

“We fully appreciate the importance of the decision by conference organisers to hold their meetings here.

“Glasgow City Marketing Bureau specifically targets those conferences that strategically match the economic aspirations of the city and will continue to do so going forward.”

The strategy is paying dividends.

The influential Inter-national Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) confirmed Glasgow’s status as one of the world’s best conference destinations by placing the city 29th in a list of top destinations – ahead of globally recognised rivals such as Melbourne, Toronto, Boston, Bangkok, Brussels and Dublin.

London is the only UK city ranked higher than Glasgow. Notable successes included the World Science Fiction Convention in 2005, the European Renal Association in 2006 and the World Congress on Pain in 2008 which together brought 15,000 delegates to the city.

Last summer, Glasgow saw off competition from Paris, Brussels and Geneva to host the world’s most prestigious gas turbine exhibition and followed up by hosting the World Parkinson Congress which had never before been held outside America.

THEY brought a combined 6000 delegates who generated £10m for the city’s economy.

Another £5m of income is likely to be triggered when the International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport is held this summer at the SECC while next year delegates to the Sixth Europaediatrics Congress are Glasgow bound after organisers decided to hold it in the UK for the first time.

In 2014, the Societe Internationale d’Urologie is bringing 3000 delegates to the city after Glasgow’s marketing team beat off rivals bids from Lisbon, Prague, Rome, Dublin, Bucharest and Berlin.

On Friday, the Evening Times revealed how Glasgow won the title of Britain’s conference capital for the sixth time while the SECC was named Britain’s best conference venue for the fourth time in five years.

Councillor Matheson said: “The past seven years have been a huge success story for Glasgow – we have welcomed the world’s best minds to the world’s best city.”

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/w...city-1.1152669

[Ultima]

Originally Posted by Pious Fraud

Windfall for city MARKETING VALUE

Seven years after organisation set up, figures show conference benefit to city

Evening Times 13th March 2012

MORE than £800million has been generated for Glasgow after campaigns made the city one of the world’s leading conference venues.

In the last six years hundreds of thousands of delegates from around the globe have spent a total of £827million in the city.

And conference venues, snack bars, restaurants, pubs, clubs, cinemas, theatres and Style Mile shops have all benefited.

Conferences are big business and marketing chiefs have promoted Glasgow world-wide since the launch of the Glasgow City Marketing Bureau (GCMB) in April 2005.

It was responsible for the hugely successful Glasgow: Scotland With Style brand and figures now reveal the massive cash boost its marketing team has brought to the city.

The hospitality sector across Glasgow has been cashing in too – it’s estimated that delegates spent three million nights at hotels.

Marketing chiefs say just in the last year alone they brought £120m worth of conference business to Glasgow – 10% up year-on-year, or around an extra £12m.

The marketing team’s skills to sell Scotland’s leading conference city came to the fore from November to February when they secured bookings for 99 events to be held over the next three years – a mix of medical, corporate, scientific, sporting and financial conferences.

BUREAU chairman and leader of Glasgow City Council Gordon Matheson praised the marketing team led by chief executive Scott Taylor for its “phenomenal achievement”.

He said: “Glasgow is never complacent about its conventions business. For us it’s personal.

“We fully appreciate the importance of the decision by conference organisers to hold their meetings here.

“Glasgow City Marketing Bureau specifically targets those conferences that strategically match the economic aspirations of the city and will continue to do so going forward.”

The strategy is paying dividends.

The influential Inter-national Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) confirmed Glasgow’s status as one of the world’s best conference destinations by placing the city 29th in a list of top destinations – ahead of globally recognised rivals such as Melbourne, Toronto, Boston, Bangkok, Brussels and Dublin.

London is the only UK city ranked higher than Glasgow. Notable successes included the World Science Fiction Convention in 2005, the European Renal Association in 2006 and the World Congress on Pain in 2008 which together brought 15,000 delegates to the city.

Last summer, Glasgow saw off competition from Paris, Brussels and Geneva to host the world’s most prestigious gas turbine exhibition and followed up by hosting the World Parkinson Congress which had never before been held outside America.

THEY brought a combined 6000 delegates who generated £10m for the city’s economy.

Another £5m of income is likely to be triggered when the International Convention on Science, Education and Medicine in Sport is held this summer at the SECC while next year delegates to the Sixth Europaediatrics Congress are Glasgow bound after organisers decided to hold it in the UK for the first time.

In 2014, the Societe Internationale d’Urologie is bringing 3000 delegates to the city after Glasgow’s marketing team beat off rivals bids from Lisbon, Prague, Rome, Dublin, Bucharest and Berlin.

On Friday, the Evening Times revealed how Glasgow won the title of Britain’s conference capital for the sixth time while the SECC was named Britain’s best conference venue for the fourth time in five years.

Councillor Matheson said: “The past seven years have been a huge success story for Glasgow – we have welcomed the world’s best minds to the world’s best city.”

http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/news/w...city-1.1152669

A decent link to the airport and a subway stop at Central Station and the SECC would make the figure even higher