Basic Biographical Details | Name: | Raymond Young | | Designation: | | | Born: | | | Died: | | | Bio Notes: | Raymond Young studied under Jim Johnson at the University of Strathclyde in the late 1960s. His final-year project showed an innovative approach to the then highly topical issue of tenement rehabilitation: Young chose to live on a run-down Govan estate and work with residents to find ways of bringing their dwellings up to modern living standards. This Tenement Improvement Project (TIP) was the seed for the practice ASSIST, set up by Johnson and Young in 1972.
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 Young to set up a Scottish office for his Housing Corporation. He now chairs Architecture and Design Scotland, the government body that champions good architecture and design.
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Employment and TrainingEmployers| The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details): | | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes |  | ASSIST | 1972 | c. 1974 | Partner | |
Buildings and Designs| This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | | 1971 | Taransay Street Treatment Area Housing | Govan | | Glasgow | Scotland | |
ReferencesBibliographic References| The following books contain references to this : | | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Glendinning, Miles | 1997 | Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75 | | Tuckwell Press Ltd | p40 Photograph of Taransay Street |
Archive References| The 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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