We are delighted to be sponsoring Doors Open Day again this year as it launches the 2020 Digital Festival. We have been embracing this challenge by using Guidigo to create a walking tour through the Gorbals with audio sound bites at various locations. Guidigo is free to download and makes exploring the city easy and fun! We hope you enjoy the walk which will be part of the festival from 14th-21st September.

Untold Stories in Architecture – The Gorbals

Nearly thirty years and fifteen projects later, we are going to share the stories behind the buildings we’ve delivered since 1993 in this fascinating part of our city.

Starting in Glasgow Green, our walking tour will explore the projects that we’ve delivered following the clearance of the iconic Gorbals high-rise tower blocks. This process of regeneration was initiated in 1989 with the Government supported Crown Street Regeneration Project. Significant work by the community-based New Gorbals Housing Association continues to transform the area today. The underlying philosophy has been to reinstate historic street layouts and tenements with urban gardens to bring a renewed sense of community.

On our walking tour we will journey past some of the key cultural and civic spaces and will explore the varied housing. The tour will culminate at the recently completed former Linen Bank building at 166 Gorbals Street. A keen eye will spot one flourish hiding here – a new lead hopper cast with this year’s date and image of a salmon; an homage to the original architect James Salmon Junior, the “wee troot”. A taster of the type of stories that will be shared on our tour.

Themes or stories are woven through many of our projects, sometimes hidden from view, or unlocked only by learning more about the building or place. We enjoy the challenge of embedding these stories in our architecture, so that they can be told and re-told in years to come. These themes often stem from the history of an organisation or place, or else be new interpretations, informed by the client brief, artistic collaboration, or the wider context in which we operate. We hope this tour can act as a gathering place for people to share their own stories of the built environment, culture and history of the Gorbals.