Over nearly a decade, Dundee’s demolition specialists Safedem painstakingly planned for the destruction of Glasgow’s iconic Red Road flats.
Staff surveyed every inch of thetowers and quickly discovered they faced the most challenging project in the firm’s 40-year history.
The six remaining towers werestudded with thousands of strategically placed explosive charges, the buildings wrapped in protective material and thousands of people evacuated from the surrounding area.
As many of those watched on Sunday, six giant explosions signalled thebeginning of the end for the towering skyscrapers, only for two to defy the destructive power marshalled.
Safedem bosses, including managing director William Sinclair, were inGlasgow with Mr Sinclair admitting the demolition had not gone as intended.
It was also announced that anindependent investigation into theblowdown will also take place.
“Two of the six blocks involved inSunday’s blowdown didn’t fall exactly as planned,” Mr Sinclair said.
“Instead of 10 storeys remaining in all of the blocks, we now have 13 stillstanding at Red Road Court and 11 at Petershill Drive.
“However, we will proceed with our original plan of dismantling all ofthe blocks using routine machinedemolition methods.
“Preparations for this are already under way and high-reach machinery will begin taking down what’s left of the blocks this week.”
Once cleared, the Red Road site will be taken on by Glasgow Housing Association to create a new generation of city housing that residents hope will stand the test of time better than the flats.
A GHA spokesman confirmed that an “independent technical review” will be carried out in the wake of Sunday’sdemolition.
“The blowdown didn’t go completely to plan,” he said.
“Safedem has, however, confirmed the two remaining blocks are stable and are confident the demolition willcontinue as previously planned.
“We would again like to thank the residents who were asked to leave their homes and hope they understand the reason for the slight delay in them getting back to their homes on Sunday was because the demolition contractor needed to be absolutely sure it was safe for them to do so.”