Glasgow's Healthier Heart
SOURCE: COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MONTHLY, DECEMBER 2005
Glasgow. Home to some of the best architecture in Europe, an artistic and cultural Mecca that can also boast the best shopping in the UK outside London.
This reputation had been built on a rich industrial past as the second city of the British Empire, famous for design and innovation, a world leader in the manufacture of ships, heavy plant, locomotive engines, with associated industries in steel and coal lining the Clyde Valley. Those “glory days” of heavy industry brought Glasgow great wealth and a worldwide reputation, but were enjoyed at a great cost to the Clyde and local inhabitants.
While some buildings still bear the scars of the smog which once plagued the now clean-aired city, the legacy of industry can also be seen in the health of the population, famous for appallingly high levels of cancer, heart attack and lung disease caused by the poor diet and sedentary lifestyle prevalent in areas of economic decline in the UK.
In spite of this, in his fifth and final annual report earlier this year, the chief medical officer, Dr Mac Armstrong, stated that Scotland has begun to shake itself free of the grip of its appalling health record.
However, prevention not treatment is the cure and there can be no denying that the lifestyles of Glasgow’s citizens will have to change if the health of the city is to improve. The redevelopment of the Clydeside is at the centre of this initiative in Glasgow: a public private project that scotches the view that big business will only ever benefit a privileged few.
Millions have been spent decontaminating the former industrial land either side of the Clyde and bringing this land back into use for all to enjoy. Careful consideration has been paid to ensure that these developments are accessible for the many, not just the few who can afford a riverside apartment. The majority of developments incorporate public realm works, parks and open spaces have been created, opening up access to the river with the aim of encouraging people out of their houses and down to the river. A good example of this is Glasgow Harbour, where only 40% of the development is being built on, the rest set aside for walkways and parkland.
Bridges, riverside walkways and cycle paths complement the improved leisure facilities which range from new football and rowing facilities at Glasgow Green, to the indoor ski slope at Braehead. All of these will contribute to what developers, city chiefs and public health physicians hope will be a healthier lifestyle for Glaswegians.
As well as the physical regeneration on its banks, millions have been spent on cleaning up the Clyde itself. Scottish Water is spending £18 million on new waste treatment facilities in Lanarkshire and has a similar sum for complementary projects in Glasgow. These will encourage greater leisure use of the Clyde – as the Riverside Festival has shown.
Now, as Glasgow bids for the Commonwealth games, the Clyde, a once heavily polluted and redundant river whose derelict shipyards and filthy water were a metaphor for the hardening arteries of Glaswegians, lies at the heart of Glasgow’s rebirth as a healthy city.
AUTHOR: ELSPETH CARSON