ECD Architects submits replacement scheme for Glasgow’s Wyndford towers

The London, Preston and Glasgow-based practice’s proposal for Wheatley Homes Glasgow, the city’s largest housing association, provides 343 social rent homes and 58 units for mid-market rent in several low and mid-rise buildings.

The proposed 401 homes plans submitted to Glasgow City Council for planning include one, two, and three-bedroom flats, three and four-bedroom houses and wheelchair-accessible flats.

ECD has also designed a new, purpose-built, two-storey community hub with new outdoor space.

The planning application comes 10 months after the demolition of three of four 26-storey towers designed by city engineer Ernest Buteux and built between 1961 and 1969 for the Scottish Special Housing Association (SSHA).

The fourth tower was later dismantled via top-down deconstruction.

Together, the four towers provided 600 social homes, which Scottish architects Alan Dunlop of Alan Dunlop Architects, Malcom Fraser of Fraser/Livingstone Architects and social housing pioneer Kate Macintosh argued could be retrofitted.

Demolition of Wyndford high rise flats in Maryhill – Glasgow

Alternative proposals drawn-up by Fraser in 2023 with the backing of campaign group Wyndford Residents Union suggested that demolition of the four towers would produce 22,465 tonnes of CO2 in comparison with 12,098 tonnes involved in retrofit.

Wheatley Homes Glasgow had long argued against retrofitting the four 60-year-old towers because, it said, doing so would be ‘extremely difficult and costly’.

The housing association told the AJ in late 2022: ‘We commissioned a team of expert consultants and leading structural engineers to examine if there was a feasible and cost-effective way to redevelop these four blocks. The results showed the blocks are reinforced concrete structures, which makes them extremely difficult and costly to convert.’

The housing association has also said that in an independent consultation it commissioned in 2021/2022, 85 per cent of tenants who responded said they backed plans to demolish the four blocks and build new homes.

A legal dispute had delayed demolition of the towers and in August 2024, the Court of Session in Scotland rejected claims that Glasgow City Council had ‘erred in law’ by waving through the demolition without an environmental impact assessment.

A bid to list the towers failed in February 2023 when Historic Environment Scotland said the buildings ‘did not meet the criteria of special architectural or historic interest required’.

Demolition of Wyndford high rise flats in Maryhill – Glasgow

Lindsay Lauder, Wheatley’s director of development and regeneration, said in a statement following planning submission: ‘It’s a really exciting time for Wyndford. The new homes will help create a community people are proud to live in.

‘There are very few family and accessible homes in Wyndford, and that means larger families or tenants who have mobility needs often have no choice but to leave the area.

‘The larger family homes and more accessible homes reflect the needs of the community in Wyndford. They will also give families the opportunity to build long-term roots in the community.’

Subject to planning, work could begin on the new homes this year.

ECD Architects submitted Wyndford scheme (March 2026)