Sighthill, Glasgow

Sighthill is a housing estate in the Scottish city of Glasgow. It is situated north of the River Clyde.Sighthill is part of the wider Springburn district in the north of the city. The area is bordered to the north by Cowlairs, to the east by the Springburn Bypass road, to the west by the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line running into Queen Street Station and to the south by the Townhead interchange of the M8 Motorway. The area is split into two sub-areas, Pinkston to the south and Fountainwell to the north.The district is primarily residential and originally consisted of ten 20-storey slab tower blocks, seven 5-storey maisonette blocks and five rows of tenements.HistoryDesigned by Crudens Ltd, the scheme was built by Glasgow Corporation Housing Department between 1964 and 1969 on the 'Soda Waste' at Pinkston and Fountainwell Farm, near the cemetery. The former was derelict ground on which the United Alkali Company's St. Rollox Chemical Works, founded by Charles Tennant and at one time the largest chemical manufacturer in the world, used to dump waste chemicals (particularly hydrogen sulfide, a byproduct of the Leblanc process) until its closure in 1964. The Chemical Works was located on the north bank of the Monkland Canal, immediately east of Port Dundas, where the current Pinkston area of Sighthill is now located.