Basic Biographical Details Name: | ASSIST | Designation: | | Born: | 1972 | Died: | | Bio Notes: | ASSIST was a Glasgow practice founded in 1972 by Jim Johnson and his former student Raymond Young, with a focus on tenement rehabilitation. There were numerous architects working in the practice in the 1980s - including John Gilbert, Alan Dunford, Allan McNicol, Tom Sneddon and David Fleming.
ASSIST’s aim was to counter the prevailing tendency of either demolition or wholesale rehabilitation that involved moving entire communities out of their dwellings, leaving buildings vulnerable to vandalism while work was carried out. Instead, it favoured the housing association model, using the same legal framework but with the committee comprising the buildings’ residents rather than professionals. A major early project was a small mixed-ownership block in a ‘housing treatment area’ of Govan’s shipyards, which was scheduled to be knocked down within a decade to make way for a technical college for workers in the then thriving ship-building industry. The Council allowed the new practice to oversee a gradual upgrade, using local contractors, which was funded by a combination of ASSIST’s own money and grants from the Wates construction firm and the Scottish Development Department. Strathclyde University was supportive of the venture, and gave Johnson a secondment initially of one day a week, rising to four days a week by the mid-1970s as the practice’s work had grown. ASSIST functioned as an action research project for its students: they were encouraged to draw up scheme proposals for the various projects and to present them to the inhabitants, whose opinions would shape how the projects would progress.
When the Housing Act of 1974 was implemented, Lord Goodman visited the Govan scheme and was sufficiently impressed to ask Raymond Young to set up a Scottish office for his Housing Corporation. Although this was a blow to the practice, it was able to continue, with four or five other members of staff by then on board. Eventually this number would rise to some 25.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Strathclyde University, Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1972 | 1983 | | | Glasgow, Scotland | Business | 1983 | | office overlooking the Clyde |
Employment and TrainingEmployees or Pupils
Buildings and Designs
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Allen, Nic (ed.) | | Scottish Architects in Conservation | | | p10 | | Glendinning, M, MacInnes, R and MacKechnie, A | 1996 | A History of Scottish Architecture | | | p552 | | Glendinning, Miles | 1997 | Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75 | | Tuckwell Press Ltd | p40 Photograph of Taransay Street |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | Courtesy of Jim Johnson | Interview of Jim Johnson by Jessica Taylor, 30 October 2008 | | |
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