Tower blocks fall in city revamp

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It took just seconds for the 35-year-old flats to come down. (first shots courtesy of Nicola Lewis)

Two tower blocks in Glasgow's Gorbals area have been demolished in a controlled explosion.

The buildings at Stirlingfaulds Place were razed to the ground at 0950 BST as part of an ongoing revamp.

The demolition, carried out by Dundee-based firm Safedem, took just 10 seconds to bring down the 23-storey blocks, using 120kg of explosives.

There are plans to build 1,725 new homes in the surrounding area, 450 of which will be for social rent

Safedem managing director and explosives engineer William Sinclair, described both tower blocks, which were completed in 1973, as "complex structures".

"What we do is to use the minimum quantity of explosives to initiate a collapse," he said.

'Good memories'

"We're taking out the structural integrity of certain columns and allowing gravity to take over - demolition man's best friend.

"In these buildings, because of constraints around the site, we were wanting to direct both of them in towards the centre of the site.

"We don't blow anything up in the demolition world we blow things down."

Mr Sinclair said his team would be on site for up to 20 weeks to process and recycle the rubble.

Some of the former occupants of the tower blocks expressed sadness that they had been demolished.

Dorothy Denham, who lived there from 1973 to 1995, said: "They were great. They were lovely. They were so different to where we'd came from in the Gallowgate.

"We had great neighbours and if the flats had been the same as in the 1970s I wouldn't have left them."

Mary Carnochan, stayed in the flats between 1973 and 1999.

She said: "It's very sad, a lot of good memories are away.

"It might be progress but it's sad. They were great houses, well and truly."