Govanhill and Pollokshields see some of the highest fire rates in Glasgow and the recent tenement collapse shows the devastating impact they can have. Natalia Equihua looks at what’s behind the numbers – and what’s being done to prevent them.

*Fire damaged tenement in Pollokshields*

By Natalia Equihua and Rhiannon J Davies | Photo by John Bowden

Shortly after midnight on 12 July, actor Tom Urie was returning home in Pollokshields. In a video he posted online later that night, he said: “I was looking at the building on the corner – which has been lying derelict for five years since there was a fire in – thinking it’s about time they demolished that. And then I started hearing really weird noises, like crackling noises, like it was raining really heavily. I looked up and the building was looking weird, so I ran across the street as it collapsed, managed to get my phone out, turned around and the building’s gone.”

The devastating collapse of this catagory B listed sandstone tenement at the corner of Kenmure Street and Albert Drive comes after a five-year ordeal. In April 2020, an accidental fire – caused by a contractor working on the gutters – forced the permanent evacuation of the building. What followed exposed major systemic weakness.

*The burnt building on the corner of Kenmure Street and Albert Drive*

The tenement was self-factored, meaning there was no formal property management structure in place to ensure adequate building-wide insurance. While some owners were properly insured, others discovered – too late – that they were either uninsured or underinsured. This meant that claims had to be pursued individually, and insurers were not obligated to coordinate or contribute to a unified rebuild effort required to restore a tenement.

Initial repair estimates of £1.5 million escalated to £4 million due to inflation in construction costs, listed building requirements, and pandemic supply chain issues. This high cost, now well beyond what individual owners could cover, halted restoration efforts. In the years that followed, owners, elected officials, and housing associations worked to find a solution but challenges around ownership coordination, planning regulations, and funding stalled progress.

*Construction workers on site after the tenement collapsed*

By 2023, structural engineers had warned the building was verging on unsalvageable. Demolition was advised, and it’s estimated £500,000 cost would fall on the owners.

Then, in mid-2024, a housing association agreed to take on the site for future redevelopment as social housing. The owners approved the plan and legal steos to transfer ownership began at the end of June 2025. But before it could be finalised, the building collapsed – triggering emergency works, evacuation of surrounding neighbours, and additional costs that once again fell to the owners.

Shortly after the ciollapse, one of the owners, Pete Macdonald wrote: “My heart goes out to everyone who has been displaced by the collapse. This was the last thing anyone involved wanted to happen. There has been a will from everyone, be it ourselves, elected members and those working in the buildings department at the council to work together to try to find a way to avoid this happening. This has not happened because of a lack of will or of inaction.”

The heartbreaking situation underscores the need for reform in tenement law, especially around mandatory insurance and ownershi, and highlights the emotional toll such disasters can take on communities.

But just how common are fires in this area? And what causes them?

We dug into the data to find out how Govanhill and Pollokshields have been affected by fires iver the oast ten years.

According to the most recent data, released from Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, in the last ten years (up to March 2024) Glasgow recorded a total of 41,666 fires. Out of these, close to 7 percent happened within the G41 and G42 postcode areas.

When comparing the number of fires in seventeen neighbourhoods covered by these postcodes, Govanhill and Pollokshields appeared among the top five most affected. Together theymake up 35 percent of all fires in the G41 and G42 postcodes.

Although, this might actually seem alarming the numbers are actually encouraging – fire incidents in Govanhill and Pollokshields have been going down since 2017. In fact, Scottish Fire and Rescue Service has recorded around 120 incidents annually – the equivalent to having eight fires per month in these neighbourhoods. This can include anything from smaller incidents in bins and contained spaces to more impactful ones that have resulted in the liss of entire businesses and homes.

Perhaps, unsurprisingly, November is the month with the highest number of fires in the area – around 14 incidents each year in this month. This is a month with a lot of firework activity, especially on Guy Fawkes Night. With more fireworks on the streets come more deliberate fires, which very often target refuse and rubbish. In Govanhill and Pollokshields, refuse fires are the most common type. This can include things like setting a bin on fire as well as burning rubbish or fly-tipped objects, like furniture abandoned on the street.

Most refuse fires in the area tend to be deliberate, but not all of them are necessarily malicious. For example, in the summertime, bins in parks can catch fire due to BBQ sets being disposed of in the wrong way. Yet refuse fires are a higher risk in areas where there is poor waste management – somehting that continues to be an issue in the area.

The next most common type of incident are dwelling fires, with an average of 30 fires per year. In the majority of cases , they tend to be accidental. In recent years, there have been flat fires reported on Annette Street, Victoria Road and others.

These can also be caused by mismanagement with risks exacerbated by substandard conditions and overcrowding. In 2017, a serious fire at Glenapp Street flat, which led to the hospitalisation of two people, resulted in a probe itno the landlord’s wider property portfoliio. Inspections uncovered dangerously bypassed gas and electricty meters, along with missing smoke and carbon monoxide detectors in flats on Prince Edward, Garturk and Hickman Streets.

In this instance, the failure to meet basic safety standards meant the landlord was struck off the register, but of course, many rogue landlords continue to operate in the area.

Although common, refuse and dwelling fires have been dropping every year since before the pandemic, with less than 40 reported annually.

On the other hand, despite a couple of recent fires in food-related businesses like MiChaii this year and Kebabish back in 2017, these types of fires are actually quite rare in Govanhill and Pollokshields. There is a common view that businesses with a kitchen pose a bigger fire hazard. However, in the last ten yearsthere have only beeen six fires recorded in cafes, restaurants, bars and other similar premises.

*MiChaii on Victoria Road months after a fire gutted the premises*

There have been more fires in retail premises which cover a broader range of properties. Another notable fire in Govanhill was when a huge blaze ripped through the garage on South Annadale Street in 2023, causing giant plumes of dark billowing smoke.

Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Station Commander George Winters said: “Cooking is the number one cause of house fires across Scotland… Whether it’s food left unattended or people becoming distracted, most house fires begin when food is being prepared. Those who live in flats or high rise buildings should be aware of the dangers of keeping items or rubbish within common close areas, which can lead toan increase in deliberate fire-setting and precvent people form exiting the building safely in the event of a fire.”

Overall, data on fires in the area is encouraging. However, we cannot underestimate the impact that a single fire can have on the community.

In Pollokshields in particular, fires have left a mark and they continue to affect the sense of safety and wellbeing of people living in the area. Besides the tragic tenement fire leaving whole families displaces, there are reports of cars being set on fireand disturbances with fireworks every November.

There is a shared sense in the community that this area feels particularly vulnerable to fires.

This year from 1-10 November, as part of wider efforts to address fire-related risks and disturbances, a section of Pollokshields has been designated as a Firework Control Zone meaning it will be a criminal offence to ignite fireworks even on private property. It is also illegal to throw or fie fireworks into the zone.

Govanhill will also become a Firework Control Zone from November 1-10, meaning residents will not be permitted to ignite fireworks in the area during this time, even in their own gardens. Failure to comply with the new regulations will result in a fine and or imprisonment.

Yet, members of the Pollokshields community are are clear that there are more actions that could be taken, not only to precent fires from happening, but to mitigate the after-effects which can continue to create ripples in the community even years after a fire has been extinguished.

Brian Graham lived across the street from the two big tenement fires that happened in Kenmure Street in 2019 and 2020, and had to be evacuated. This experience changed his sense of safety in the area, prompting him to move away. To him this event pointed to a major issue: “it brought attention to the poor housing conditions in tenement buildings.”

Pollokshields Councillor Jon Molyneux agrees one of the main issues in the area that poses a fire hazard is the lack of maintenance and factoring in tenements. He believes this is something that must be looked at through the law: “We need to have a fresh look at how tenements can be managed more effectively – things like being legally required to be factored, so that they don’t get to a point where they could become a fire risk.”

Another evacuee from these fires, Natasha Fletcher, feels that kitchens in tenements also need to be looked at: “These are old buildings and many of them have enclosed kitchens with no extractor fans. Someone needs to make sure these kitchens are up to modern standards.”

On this point, Cllr Molyneux thinks that decarbonisation of homes could be a good solution: “More homes moving away from gas appliances and pump heaters could have a big benefit, not just in terms of reducing emissions, but reducing the risk of fires.”

Read more: How can tenement owners take on retrofitting their homes?

Other measures raised by the community include awareness-raising around the recent law that requires all properties to have interlinked smoke alarms – as well as supporting property owners to sign up to the building insurance.

The aftermath of the tenement fires also continue to hurt the community. Fatima Uygun, chair of the Govanhill Baths community Trust, believes this adds to a feeling of neglect in the area and it is affecting how people in the community interact with the place.

Before the collapse, the local trust had also been pushing the council to improve the boarded fencing around one of these sites so artwork could be installed to improve the look of the area – but the request was refused.

For Fatima, this is part of a bigger problem, “It is as if pollokshields is being abandoned,” she says. “If the council don’t look after this place, the people living in it will give up to.”

An anonymous architect has apparently reported Glasgow City Council to Police Scotland, alleging they neglected their legal duty to maintain the derelict, listed tenement. Despite warnings from the architect to issue a dangerous building notice – which could have compelled urgent repairs or protective measures – the council did not take formal action, reportedly due to unresolved ownership issues and budget constraints. While safety fencing had been installed, no significant repairs or protective works were undertaken, leaving the building vulnerable to collapse.

When we asked Glasgow City Council about this, they responded by saying: “These flats had a protective cordon off fencing for for some time to protect the passing public following the loss of the roof on that block. Following the partial collapse of the front wall…the debris fell within that perimeter and demolition began on Saturday 12 July. The council’s ultimate priority in these cases is always public safety…

“At this stage, we don’t know how long those people who were evacuated by the emergency services from their own homes will be out of these properties – but our building standards team will be in regular touch with them to provide help and advice on issues linked to the demolition. As always, the aim is to allow people back into their homes once it is safe to do so.”

Pete Macdonald, one of the owners affected by the collapse, highlighted the complexity of dealing with fires in tenement living: “In Glasgow we all live on top of each other, and there has been an inescapable sense since the fire happened, that this could happen to anyone and that our sytem is not as prepared for this kind of eventuality as it should be.

“At every turn in our process of trying to sort this out we were confronted with the fact that this was a situation that no-pone had clear answers or resolutions to.”