Ruchill Quadrangle: Industrial Revolution

27 Jan 2025

The rise of retrofit is playing a dual role in saving both the planet and our heritage. We look at how a converted paint factory is bringing some colour to north glasgow while preserving an endangered slice of the city’s industrial heritage.

A canal side paint works, last used as office space, is helping to stem the tide of Glasgow’s architectural losses after being converted into 43 apartments for mid-market rent at the hands of Lar Housing Trust, an independent charity specialising in the re-use of abandoned buildings as affordable housing.

Lar has established itself as an innovative housing provider, able to deliver homes where others fear to tread thanks to a group structure centred on distinct projects and operations subsidiaries, enabling it to design, build and operate its portfolio through an inhouse architect and contractors. A willingness to embrace the private and public sectors has armed Lar with a £120m war chest comprising a £55m loan from the Scottish Government coupled with £65m of finance sourced from the Bank of Scotland for the delivery of affordable homes. This has fuelled development from Kilmarnock to Aberdeen with the trust having just completed its 754th home at Fountainbridge and being about to deliver 49 waterfront homes at a B-listed World War 1 naval barracks at Port Edgar, Queensferry.

A common feature of these sites is a focus on retrofit, placing Lar in the right place at the right time to capitalise on heightened public concern around energy use, the environment and multiple housing emergencies. Their latest project, The Quadrangle at 57 Ruchill Street, has been extensively remodelled according to these principles to provide a mix of one to four-bed flats ranging in size from 57 to 179sq/m. Interventions include the restoration of brick facades and the introduction of attic dormers to maximise the available footprint, turning a faded relic of a bygone era into a desirable address. Guiding Urban Realm through the trust’s Ruchill site CEO Ann Leslie said: “The most sustainable building is the one that is already there.

If you can repurpose it as housing or anything else. Perfect.” These words will be welcomed by many in a city bearing the scars of fire, neglect and the desire for a clean slate which has seen the loss of uncountable architectural treasures from the Mackintosh Building and Hillhead Baptist Church to the towers of the Wyndford Estate, the latter still visible from the higher levels of the Quadrangle though not for much longer.  Such losses seem especially senseless in a city battling to house its population while harbouring grand plans to double the number of city centre residents from 21,185 in 2011 to over 40,000 by 2035. To have any hope of hitting these targets Glasgow needs to invest heavily in its existing building stock, principally the underutilised floor space located above commercial properties which currently languishes as storage or lies empty, but Leslie cautions that it is not as simple as a lick of paint and new kitchens and bathrooms. “Getting old buildings to hit modern building standards, particularly with external space, is challenging. If you are in a city centre you cannot provide much parking or green space.”

Could Lar be tempted to look at smaller developments to address this shortfall? “Our smallest scale development is just four flats and our largest is 89 so we’ve got quite a range”, notes Leslie. “The only thing with a smaller development is your preliminary costs are spread through fewer homes so it’s more expensive but retrofit is not always necessarily more expensive than new build - as long as you work with the building and choose the right layout.”

Of course, the big problem with an old building is you never know exactly what hidden nasties could be uncovered. “We had some issues with this one. We originally had planning permission for 39 flats and then once we did the strip out we discovered we could fit in 43.” This meant that a separate outhouse, originally earmarked for two semi-detached dwellings, could house a community cafe. Employing the site team directly meant a short communication chain making 11th-hour changes possible. Lar can operate with the nimbleness that historic properties require and is at odds with the monolithic business models of larger housing providers who wish to reshape sites in their image rather than the other way round. “We will manage the cafe through our operations subsidiary so can put it to community use when not required as a cafe. We keep everything in-house for the benefit of our residents.”

Despite their historic origins, all the flats are built to the latest energy efficiency standards, with windows punched out of the facades ( including one bathroom overlooking Ruchill Street with a picture frame window that is fit for an exhibitionist ), all of which have been fitted with acoustic vents. This attention to detail extends to an artistic paint range which mutes the light, apparent when you look at the light cast on the ceiling. Unfortunately, the rich brick walls have had to be covered up internally for fire and insulation purposes, essentially leaving the project as a new build behind its masonry skin. At 2.5 acres there is nothing small about the trust’s latest project, with pre-app discussions underway for phase 2 for which demolition was already in full swing during Urban Realm’s visit. This size imparts the necessary heft to integrate the Forth & Clyde Canal with the bustling urban corridor of Maryhill Road. Projects on this scale are never without their challenges, chief among them -  evicting unwanted guests. “This was the worst building in the area when we bought it”, recalls Leslie. “I can’t tell you how horrible it was inside. There were cats, rats... everything. Pigeons are the worst, once they get in you never get rid of them.” Lar was happy to embrace the challenge of conversion rather than delivering an identikit white box, preventing the same solutions from cropping up again and again when starting from scratch. This extended to the incorporation of retained columns within the design though much of the interior fabric was lost to fire 30 years ago when the building was converted into offices. Where possible, characterful details such as a steel door to a back store have been retained. “Once the scaffolding came down and we saw that brickwork, we were jumping”, says Leslie.

Health and safety concerns extend to a remote-controlled saw for incising new stairwells through the concrete floor slab. A process that has opened up access to the full floor space, notably a lofty top floor whose dimensions permit the insertion of a mezzanine level linked by a spiral stair for the four, four-bedroom flats, ideal for families and boasting south-facing balconies with university views from newly inserted dormers. Pointing to the canal below Leslie said: “It’s getting more active; the pontoon isn’t in use but at our Edinburgh development we’ve got houseboats. Who knows, in time there could be a couple of houseboats here too.” The canal bank, long an inaccessible waste ground, has been opened up with private patios for the ground floor flats and public access outside the cafe for people to watch the boats while having a coffee. Earmarked for mid-market rent Lar reports that 82% of their tenants in this area are at work, with the remainder split evenly between retired, students and those who are not working or have caring responsibilities.

Pointing to the need to accommodate these groups Leslie added: “There are a lot of people excluded from tertiary education who can’t afford to live here. This will be targeted at people looking after kids, people who couldn’t afford to go to university unless they had four jobs.” The Quadrangle had already made its mark before the first tenants moved in with locals descending en masse during a Doors Open Day event to see what was happening. This generated a lot of goodwill from those who came to see a slice of industrial heritage restored. It gives hope for other endangered survivors such as the C-listed City Sawmills Building in Port Dundas now that the demand and financial viability have been shown to exist.