Oatlands

Memories of the Oatlands

A mile from my own home was the wrecked remains of an housing scheme called the Oatlands in the south of Glasgow. The Regeneration of Oatlands is Scotland’s second largest single community regeneration scheme. Work on the 32.2 hectare site started in April 2005 and the eventual development value is estimated at £212,000,000.  Most of the flats in the area were owned by Glasgow City Council and they started to relocate people in 1998 – 2000. New flats and apartments were constructed in place of the old.  The old flats in Oatlands were then boarded up, fenced off and lay derelict for another 10 years until they started demolishing them early last year, to make way for the construction of the M74 motorway extension.

For the ten years previous the flats remained in a state of limbo, broken and battered occasionally by bored drunken teenagers and the Scottish climate. During lulls in the demolition at weekends I jumped the security fence and spent several mornings wandering around the streets and homes, photographing and searching for clues and evidence of the life that once thrived there…A small photo pin badge of a man and woman smiling caught my eye amongst the damp and crumbling surroundings.    After some extensive research I managed to track him down to the newly built flats – His name was ‘Irish Tony’ and he was to be the link, spokesperson for regeneration, someone who had crossed the socio-economic border. Someone who could put some life into photographs of broken and lifeless homes….