Linthouse Urban Village, Glasgow

Linthouse is an area within the Glasgow suburb of Govan, right in the middle of the once thrivng shipbuilding industry on the Clyde River. Govan became another casualty of the closure of shipyards, and more recently many migrants and asylum-seekers have moved into the area. The tough and rundown nature of the area was obvious as I walked from the underground station past boarded-up shops and the massive walls of the old shipyards, and many of the 4 and 5-story apartment buildings have an air of neglect.

5 years ago the Linthouse Housing Association, a major landowner of apartments in the area for 30 years, initiated a project pairing artists with shop owners to work together to redesign the shopfronts. The LHA secured funding to pay for the artists and some of the costs of repainting or otherwise transforming the shopfronts, and 10 businesses participated in this project over 3 years.

This project was the catalyst for establishing the Linthouse Urban Village, to initiate a range of projects aimed at regenerating the area, attracting more businesses and making the area more desirable to residents.

Community consultation identified a number of facilities desired by the local people. A cafe was high on the list of some, while many older residents felt it would never work in their area. Two previously rundown and boarded-up shops on adjacent corners owned by the LHA have now become the LUV cafe and the LUV community centre, contributing hugely to the look and feel of a living town centre. The cafe has been very successful and provides a hub for local residents. Huge murals on the sides of buildings seen from the motorway help to identify Linthouse as an area with spirit.

One current project underway is a unique youth housing project called Fab Pad, where young people with histories of homelessness, and often addiction and abuse, are offered the chance to work with an interior designer to get ideas and learn the skills to turn a new flat into their home. They are given a small budget, taught the skills required to carry it out, from repainting to sewing cushions and framing pictures, and encouraged into employment or training.

LUV also hosts regular youth drop-in nights, craft classes, a Christmas market, and other community projects such as a recipe book featuring recipes and artwork from many of the migrant groups. The projects have all required funding from a variety of sources. The local residents, some of whom have been resident in the area for generations, are not aways supportive of change and sometimes resist the more ambitious projects, but little by little the area is experiencing a revival and is a model of what can be achieved.

Another initiative happening in the area, coordinated by our own Di Jennings, is a Govan-based community project from Fablevision called Sparr. Sparr aims to tell the story of the Govan ship-building industry through the eyes of local people, culminating in an epic-scale multi-media performance in October.