OLD/NEW Competition winners announced!

Pupils, families and teachers involved in the OLD/NEW heritage photographic competition gathered together at Glasgow City Heritage Trust's HQ earlier this month for the city-wide award ceremony.
Over 50 pupils from across Glasgow participated in the project, taking photos of historic and contemporary architecture in the city.
Judging was difficult, with some animated discussions between the panel of judges to decide the winners. GCHT board member and judge Christine Jess said: “The standard has been so high this year that judging was certainly not easy. The images show such a variety of iconic Glasgow architecture that it was hard to pick between them.”
In the end, two runners-up prizes went to Carrie Malloch from Lourdes Secondary School for her picture of Moss Heights flats in Cardonald, and to Marie Nicholas of St Margaret Mary’s for her picture of Castlemilk Stables. Overall winner was Oscar Moran from Cleveden Secondary, for his image of St Georges Tron Church on Buchanan Street.
Prizes were gift vouchers, generously donated to the competition by Borders in Glasgow.

The images are on display at the GCHT gallery space until Christmas.

Trust's 2008-09 Annual Report now available for download.

We are pleased to announce our new annual report is available to download by clicking here .  With regards to this year's activity for the Trust, Chairman Bailie Hanzala Malik comments "it is extremely encouraging to see that even in difficult times, people in Glasgow want to spend money to preserve their historic built environment ".  To request a hard copy, please

contact us.

Trust moves to new Headquarters.

Glasgow City Heritage Trust have moved...but only next door! After a spell sharing offices with the Merchant City Initiative, the Trust recently said goodbye and relocated to their own new premises at 54 Bell St. As well as a permanent office for the Trust’s team, the new space includes a lecture room and an exhibition space. A schedule of events, workshops, talks and exhibitions relating to conservation, heritage, architecture, regeneration and the City of Glasgow are planned, kicking off in September 2008 during Glasgow’s Built Heritage Festival. The new premises is fully accessible and open for business; if you’re passing please stop by to say hello.

Glasgow City Heritage Trust officially launched

    Key figures from the world of Scottish architectural heritage and conservation converged in the illustrious surroundings of Glasgow’s CCA recently, for the official launch of the Glasgow City Heritage Trust. Esteemed Scottish broadcaster Kirsty Wark was on hand to formally launch the Trust, accompanied by Chairman Bailie Hanzala Malik and Director of Development and Regeneration Services for Glasgow City Council, Steve Inch. All speakers expressed a passion for the architectural heritage of Glasgow and illustrated the importance of and necessity for the new city-wide Trust, in its work conserving, restoring and celebrating the unique historic environment of the City.
     The Trust were thrilled to receive special messages of congratulations and support for their launch from across the globe, including from representatives in Pakistan, Nova Scotia, Germany, China and Israel.

The Trust were delighted to welcome Kirsty Wark to officially launch the new Trust.

Bailie Hanzala Malik, Chairman of the Trust, addresses the audience.

Heritage is Looking Up in Glasgow!

Glasgow City Heritage Trust has launched a new photography project for local schools, Looking Up, focusing on Glasgow’s ‘hidden’ architecture. The purpose of the competition is to record details of Glasgow’s historic built environment that are often missed at street level and only seen when looking up!

The first group to take part in the competition were S3 art students from Hyndland Secondary School. The rain and dull skies did not deter these budding Ansel Adams’ and they were able to take many impressive shots throughout the Hyndland area. Judging was practically an impossible task due to the very high standard of the all the participants work but eventually Jack Low was declared the winner, for his perspective shot of the Cottiers tower. Runners-Up on the day were Jordan Skrynka and Emma McBride.

Art teacher Alex Dempster commented “it was a great project for the pupils and they got a lot out of the day...this is a brilliant way to get people thinking about their everyday landscape and the heritage of the city that we sometimes take for granted”.

An exhibition of selected images from the competition, including the overall winning photograph, will be on display at Glasgow City Heritage Trust’s gallery later in the year- keep an eye on our Events page for more information.

If you are interested in finding out more about how your school can take part in this competition, please get in touch with us for more details.

S3 pupil Jack low’s winning image.

A selection of images from the day.

Pupils were out and about in Hyndland to photograph the city’s heritage.

Trust goes City-wide

As of 1st April 2008, Glasgow City Heritage Trust can for the first time offer grants for comprehensive repair and restoration schemes to listed buildings across the City, including those outside Glasgow’s conservation areas. Previously, funding has been limited to buildings within these areas. This expansion to city-wide coverage will enable the Trust to invest further funds into preserving the unique character of the City’s historic built environment.
Glasgow currently has 22 conservation areas, which vary in character from the city centre and Victorian residential suburbs to a rural village and a former country estate. These areas are defined as "of special architectural or historic interest, the character or appearance of which it is desirable to preserve or enhance". Additionally, Glasgow has approximately 1,800 listed buildings located throughout, which add significantly to the identity and image of the City.

If you have repair works to undertake to a listed building in Glasgow or a historic property within a conservation area, please contact us to see if we can help. (To find out if your building is listed or falls within one of the City’s conservation areas, click here and perform a property address search.)

Aikenhead House, a category A listed mansion house in the Cathcart area of Glasgow.

Glasgow City Heritage Trust...Six Months On

Since Glasgow City Heritage Trust’s work started in earnest back in 2007, they have invested over £225,000 in repair, conservation and restoration works to Glasgow’s historic built environment. This investment has been made through grants issued for windows, doors, roofs and stonework for both major public and residential historic buildings across the City. Recipient of the Trust’s first domestic buildings grant, Lynne Ward, says “The grant was a fabulous opportunity to both schedule my renovations sooner, thanks to the financial support, and also to get some technical support, invaluable for those who aren’t experts in conservation. I love the proportions and detail of the Glasgow tenements and it was important to me to try to retain original features and reflect the traditional craftsmanship of the time in my renovation works. The Trust is a counter-balance to any extra cost involved in undertaking such a high standard of work, ensuring there is a greater incentive for Glasgow residents such as myself to protect their properties for the future.”
 The Glasgow City Heritage Trust team have also recently established a Heritage Grants programme, which will be used to support Glasgow’s educational establishments in facilitating projects, training courses and other events related to the City’s architectural heritage and traditional building skills.
More details will be posted online later in the year- join our mailing list to keep up to date with this and all other news and developments within the Trust.

The team’s Grants Officer, Gordon Urquhart, contemplates the West End skyline.

Mackintosh’s Queens Cross Church re-opens

Glasgow City Heritage Trust has recently contributed £58,801 to aid the refurbishment of Queens Cross Church, the only church designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh to have been built and the Mackintosh Society's headquarters. The refurbishment project included repair work to the roof, stonework and leaded glass. The building is in the west of Glasgow and open to the public; visit the Mackintosh Society website for details and opening hours.

Queens Cross Church. Image: CRM Society