Explosives are in place to demolish the first of the landmark Red Road flats.

High-rise flats at 153-213 Petershill Drive will be taken down in a blowdown operation on Sunday (June 10), making the top two thirds crumble to one side.

The demolition will be carried out by Dundee-based Safedem and is expected to take less than five minutes.

The Red Road flats - about 1400 of them - were built in the 1960s as an answer to Glasgow's housing problem as the city's poor were crowded in outdated Victorian tenements.

They were once the highest towers in Europe but were beset with anti-social problems and have been earmarked for demolition for years.


Red Road is made up of eight steel-framed blocks, including two 'triple blocks', made up of three towers joined together.

The towers, between 25 and 30 storeys tall, were designed by architect Sam Bunton and owned by Glasgow Housing Association.

Four of the blocks at Red Road are still occupied.

An exclusion zone will be in place on Sunday from Berryburn Road to Royston Road and Safedem has advised people to "stay well away" from the area.

The site has been stripped of furniture and fittings and an extensive asbestos removal programme was set in motion.

Third party inspections have confirmed all asbestos has been successfully removed.

Blowdown materials will be processed after Sunday's explosion and concrete will be crushed for recycling.

The site will be cleared after the operation.

The controlled explosion will be visible on a live webcam link at the company's website: www.redroaddemolition.co.uk.

(NE)