32 C O N T E X T 1 7 1 : M A R C H 2 0 2 2 Since the establishment of the Scottish Parliament, Glasgow has worked in partnership with the Scottish Government and with housing associations, to retain and develop momentum in the provision of social and affordable housing across Glasgow and in the wider city region (together home to over 35 per cent of Scotland’s population). ‘The leadership showed by Transforming Communities Glasgow is really important and the role of community-based housing associations has been absolutely critical,’ says Shona Robison MSP, cabinet secretary (social justice, housing and local government), Scottish Government. ‘Partnership working is essential because we can not deliver “Housing to 2040” on our own. Sustainability and placemaking are very important… It’s not just about bricks and mortar, it’s about the communities that those homes are located in, with access to green space. That has been so important during the pandemic. ‘A good example of placemaking is Clyde Gateway, which is developing a large area of land not just for homes, but for employment opportunities and leisure pursuits for local people. It’s a lasting legacy from the Commonwealth Games. I think Scotland and Glasgow are leading the way in a just transition to net zero, by putting people in communities at the heart of that transition.’ Increased attention to the retrofitting needed to combat the climate emergency is focusing increased urgency to upskilling the workforce and working with residents and communities to better understand decisions around energy efficiency and heat decarbonisation. The work goes beyond the 70,000 historically and culturally important pre-1919 stone tenements that give Glasgow its characteristic look and feel. It embraces some 430,000 homes across the city region that will require adaptation to make them fit for the next 100 years, while dealing with fuel poverty and upskilling the construction sector in a partnership that is interconnected and place-based. Michelle Mundie, head of housing, Glasgow City Council, describes the Glasgow standard. ‘It is a set of principles for affordable housing which raises the sustainability levels and the space standards in the housing that we provide. Introducing the Glasgow standard has been a major success [and] has been embraced by the housing associations in the city… to provide passive house social housing. The housing strategy and the housing investment programme both place emphasis on the place principle and creating 20-minute neighbourhoods. Each of the new developments takes these principles into account and includes distance to shops, amenity space, parking and all the things that make a good community.’ In international practice, Glasgow was quick to embrace the 2013 United Nations Geneva charter on sustainable housing. It saw the charter’s core principles of environmental protection, economic effectiveness, social inclusion and cultural adequacy as a validation of the city’s own approach. This collaboration, begun in 2015, led to the establishment of a UN Charter Centre for Excellence at the Glasgow Urban Lab, a partnership between the Glasgow School of Art and Glasgow City Council. The Urban Lab has led on the preparation of ‘Place and Life in the UNECE’, a regional action plan for 2030 intended to assist member states tackle challenges arising from the pandemic, climate and housing emergencies across regions, cities and neighbourhoods. Many of Glasgow’s stone tenements have been successfully rehabilitated.
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