The building at 33 Dalintober Street/53 Morrison Street was originally designed in 1919 by architect James Ferrigan as a warehouse for the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society, completed in 1933. It sits immediately beside the very prominent Co-operative House, which is adjacent to the Kingston Bridge on the south side of the River Clyde.

The building was converted to 60 flats and 4 commercial units in 1999.

After a survey discovered that the building would deteriorate rapidly if the almost 100-year-old roof was not completely replaced at a cost of £1.135 million, the building’s factor Speirs Gumley successfully applied for an emergency grant of £576,000 from Glasgow City Council. With this financial assistance in place, Speirs Gumley was then able to gain approval from the homeowners and business owners to pay their share of the remaining costs. Within just 12 weeks, the money had been raised and the vital repairs began in August 2015.

As well as replacing the roof, improvements were also made to the underground car park and stairwells along with a refurbishment of the façade.

The newly restored building was ready just in time to host Kevin Stewart MSP, minister for local government and housing, on September 21 as he launched Under One Roof - a major new free website designed to help private flat owners with the complex and important task of carrying out shared repairs.

The building was chosen as a venue because it is a working example of best practice and what can be achieved when owners, property managers and local authorities pull together.

Lorraine MacDonald, owner of Speirs Gumley, said: “In my entire property management career I’ve never seen anything like the dedication and determination of the Owner Focus Group to raise the money needed to save their beautiful building from deterioration. My team at Speirs Gumley have also gone well above and beyond the call of duty to make this happen, and the chartered building surveyors, Wiseman Associates Limited and contractors GDN Contracts have also done a wonderful job.”

Councillor George Redmond, executive member for jobs and investment at Glasgow City Council, said: “It’s great to see the restoration of this splendid building, another symbol of the regeneration of Tradeston, and an enterprise that all involved should be proud of. I am delighted that the council supported this project, which saved an important part of Glasgow’s built heritage for future generations.”

Greig Douglas of chartered building surveyors Wiseman Associates Limited said: “This has been a very rewarding project for us to work on, especially with this being such an iconic building in a very prominent location. It’s great to see the scaffolding down and the building looking glorious again.”

David Kerr of GDN Contracts added: “This was one of the biggest and most exciting restorations that we have ever worked on and I am very proud that we completed the repairs on budget on a project of this magnitude.”