TheLumaTower, enlightenedoncemore! Mike Fraser asks how many people it takes to change a lightbulb factory. The former Luma Lamp Factory on Shieldhall Road, is a famous Glasgow landmark and, indeed, a gateway building in the City, and is included in the Scottish Minister's List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest as catego1y 'B' listed. Its distinctive and principal feature is a tall conning tower situated at the south west corner rising to a height of 84 ft (originally mistaken by the author of this article to be a building belonging to the original Glasgow Airport at Abbotsinch!, a mistake anyone could make ... ). The building was completed in 1938 to coincide with the Empire Exhibition sited in nearby Bellahouston Park (which contained the very wonderful 'Taits Tower'), and was the result of a joint effort of the Wholesale Societies of Scotland and Sweden, which in turn led to the formation of the British Luma CoOperative Lamp Company, as the Glasgow HQ of the first international cooperative facto1y for the manufacture of electric lamps. It represents one of the last surviving examples of architectural merit of the Shieldhall Industrial Complex, which was the Scottish CoOperative Wholesale Society's (SCWS) innovative manufacturing and production facility, developed in the 1880s, which provided overflow capacity from the Co-Op's main site elsewhere in the City.The architect for the original project was Cornelius Armour, an SCWS inhouse employee. It is now of course a highly visible building close to the MS Motorway leading to and from Glasgow City centre and its International Airport. On cessation of light bulb manufacture the building lay vacant for some years before being occupied by a company trading as 'Caravan Land', used as a sales operation for caravans and mobile homes. Various applications were then made in the 1980s for hotel and office uses, but none came to fruition Context65 March2000 and the building, vacant and unloved, was visibly deteriorating. It came to be seen as an eyesore and under threat of demolition. From the late 1980s, it became a regular feature of the Surplus Buildings Register produced by the City Council's Planning function in an effort to assist in the marketing of properties at risk. Within the Department, it is probably fair to say that there was a broad consensus that every effort should be made to find a future for this distinctive Art-Deco building as Glasgow is mainly regarded as a Victorian City and does not have a wealth of such buildings. In other words, there was an affection for the building. It came to be very depressing when a succession of potentially interested parties dangled hopes of a bright new future for it and all failed to materialise. However, unknown to the Planning Department at the time, Linthouse Housing Association Ltd, a community based housing organisation with over 20years' experience of rehabilitation and new build projects in the area, had been maintaining a watching brief on the building . .Its Board and Chairman have an enlightened attitude to listed buildings in the area, as these were often focal points within the community. When the asking price for the building and associated land fell from £500 000 to £150 000, Linthouse was convinced that this was the time to make a move , firmly believing in the potential of the Luma building to make a high quality CONSERVING TWENTIETH CENTURY BUILDINGS conversion to residential use. In 1993, the association commissioned a Development Appraisal to this end. The design team as-- sembled to prepare the study included Cornelius McClymont Architects who also shared in the single minded vision of Linthouse Housing Association, in that there should be 'no compromise' in the execution of this project. Both agreed it was essential to retain and build upon the Art Deco theme, as any compromise would devalue the impact of this unusual building- a view shared by the Planning Department. It is also interesting that John McBride (Director ofLinthouse Housing Association) at the time had taken note of the conversion of the 'Alaska Building' in Bermondsey in London which helped to direct his vision for the Luma, whilst Alec McClymont of Cornelius/ McClyrnont had his ideas shaped by a visit to a housing scheme in Stuttgart elating from the 1920s. The agreement that the Art -Deco style was fundamental to any design concept for the building, together with achieving infusion of light wherever possible, was the foundation of a consistent approach with an emphasis on appropriate use of colour, glazed brick and the insertion of a large lightwell and internal courtyard. The original structural grid also allowed for generous space standards for the flats created. On investigation, the building was found to consist of a steel framed structure with precast concrete floor slabs at the upper levels. The ground floor was a concrete slab and the roof a low pitched steel truss system with steel purlins supporting corrugated asbestos sheeting. The steel frame had been fire protected by encasing it in either concrete or brickwork, and the external walls of the frame were brick infill with metal framed (Crittall) windows. Although the building was in a poor state 17
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=