By Chris Irvine

GLASGOW'S Red Road Flats will take seven years to demolish the same time it took to build them more than 40 years ago.

The eight skyscrapers in Balornock were hailed as the high-rise solution to housing problems of Scotland's largest city.

Now the flats in the north of the city are earmarked to come down as part of a housing revolution which will see nearly 3000 new-build homes for social rent.

Today a Glasgow Housing Association spokeswoman revealed that, due to the building design and the presence of asbestos in the flats, they will have to be dismantled brick by brick.

The Red Road tower blocks, unlike any other similar construction at the time in Glasgow, were built with a steel framework and asbestos insulation.

The spokeswoman said: "All eight buildings have now been earmarked for demolition.

"Due to their type of construction it is likely that the buildings will need to be manually de-constructed.

"Demolition will likely take up to seven years."

This means they will take as long to demolish as it did to build them in the 1960s.

It is expected the demolition will probably begin in around two years with the contract for the work soon coming up for grabs.

GHA stressed any asbestos in the buildings was not a threat to those living there.

The Evening Times revealed this week how work is under way to build 239 homes at Rye Road and Avonspark Street almost in the shadows of the imposing towers.

Families will be selected for the new homes and move in this October.

The homes are part of a £300million project to replace some of the city's crumbling housing a pledge made by the GHA when it took over the city's council homes in 2003.

They announced in March 2005 they would demolish the Red Road skyscrapers.

Two of the blocks are currently part of GHA's active clearance programme. One is completely cleared while the other has 35 tenants.

One of the other blocks is leased by the YMCA as a hostel for asylum seekers and students.

Letting has stopped at two blocks, 10 Red Road Court and 21 Birnie Court, though clearance of the 300 GHA tenants has yet to start.

The Red Road Flats have 1312 homes but up to 8000 people lived there at one stage.

During the 80s, some were converted for student accommodation and recently, they have been used to provide shelter for refugees from places such as Rwanda and Kosovo.