Hundreds of Glasgow families and individuals are set to benefit from a massive housing regeneration project being delivered by Southside Housing Association.

The Association is currently renovating 153 properties across the Pollokshields East and Strathbungo areas of the city.

Almost 100 properties, ranging in size from one to seven bedrooms, have been completed and are occupied, with the remainder scheduled to be completed later this year.

The £15.4m scheme – which was funded in part by a substantial grant from Glasgow City Council’s Department of Regeneration Services (DRS) – was targeted at transforming properties in disrepair, empty long-term or un-factored.

One happy tenant, Myra Thompson, moved to her two bedroom property on Albert Drive in October last year.

The 50-year-old is originally from Pollokshields but left when she was a child and has now moved back to the area 45 years later.

She said:

“It’s wonderful to come back to this area of the city.

“I left a flat in the private rental sector. Even though I was renting it and had been in for a little while, it always felt like it was someone else’s home.

“But here I feel much more like it is my own, even though it’s the housing association and I’m still renting, the flat feels like my home.

“It is a lovely warm, bright and attractive flat. The area is really friendly and welcoming too. It is really just a fantastic place to live.”

Margaret McIntyre, Chairperson of Southside Housing Association, said:

“These homes will provide quality housing for local people, and we are very proud of our role in delivering this essential housing to Glasgow. We have worked hard to create sustainable homes for families and individuals, and it is always a pleasure to see the first people move in.”

Some of the properties will be made available to people from Southside Housing Association’s housing list or homeless households referred to them by Glasgow City Council, while others will provide mid-market rent homes aimed at working people on modest incomes who want a positive alternative to private renting or owner occupation.

Councillor Kenny McLean, City Convener for Neighbourhoods, Housing and Public Realm at Glasgow City Council, said:

“The renovation of these homes in Pollokshields East and Strathbungo will see many of them transformed to provide housing that is sustainable and a real asset to these communities.

“I am delighted that the council was able to support this project, one of many across Glasgow just now that are helping to bring high-quality homes to people and families in the city.”

Construction, renovation and refurbishment specialists Contract Building Services (Scotland) (CBS) are the lead contractors across the project.

Gavin Taylor, Managing Director of CBS, said:

“I am delighted that CBS has been chosen by Southside Housing Association as their preferred delivery partner for the refurbishment of these properties.

“Working closely with Southside Housing Association and their private acquisition programme provides us, as a small to medium enterprise, an opportunity to invest in the local area, providing local employment, training and developing supply chain opportunities.”

Work includes installing new kitchens, bathrooms, windows and heating systems, rewiring, and removing old plasterwork with some structural and rot works.

The acquisition programme has also enabled the Association’s factoring team to take on the property management role in closes where individual properties have been acquired. This is part of the Association’s strategy to drive up property management standards within mixed tenure blocks in the area.