GHA’s £1billion project to upgrade homes in Glasgow has brought a major economic boost and thousands of jobs to the city.

A study has now revealed GHA’s investment programme, the biggest of its kind in Europe, has brought in an extra £923million to the UK economy – with around £682m of that remaining in Glasgow.

The report by Heriot Watt University and Napier University also shows GHA’s work to improve homes has created or supported more than 9,000 jobs – with over two-thirds going to Glasgow residents.

GHA’s £1.2billion investment programme passed the £1billion milestone earlier this year and has so far seen 80 per cent of homes modernised and upgraded. The remaining homes will be upgraded over the next two years.

The report says the project has been effectively managed, delivered on target and achieved good value for money.

It has also done more for Glasgow than originally planned – for example it has transformed environments and contributed to improvements in health and helped reduce crime levels.

GHA Chief Executive Martin Armstrong said: “GHA has transformed homes across the city, making them warmer, drier and better in every way.

“But this report now shows that the £1billion we have spent so far has generated almost as much again in benefits to the economy.

“That includes creating and supporting 9000 jobs, many of them in Glasgow.

“We are delighted to be playing a key role in the regeneration of the city. The investment programme is one of the ways we are delivering on our vision to create better homes, better lives and a better Glasgow.”

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The wide-ranging report shows GHA’s improvement work has:

• Saved tenants £330 a year on their fuel bills – a 31 per cent saving

• Cut fuel poverty by half – from 22 per cent to 11 per cent

• Cut housebreaking by 40 per cent

• Increased tenants’ satisfaction with their neighbourhood from 60 per cent to 82 per cent

• Increased tenants’ satisfaction with GHA from 67 per cent to 80 per cent

• Improved tenancy sustainment – which means people are staying in their GHA homes for longer.

Researchers said problems of dampness and poor heating which posed direct health risks to residents have been successfully tackled by the investment work – and that warmer homes mean improved health and well being for residents. It is, however, too early to fully assess the scale of these long-term benefits

The research also noted that GHA’s investment programme achieved good value for money with savings allowing GHA to plough another £150m into new housing, community facilities, environmental schemes and play areas across the city.

The experts also made the point that the investment was carried out while rents were frozen at pre-transfer levels.

The so-called ‘multiplier effect’ – where initial money spent generates extra demand for supply firms and where employees use their salaries to buy more goods and services – means that GHA’s £1billion investment has brought in another £923million to the economy.

And while the investment programme directly employs 4,100 people, it has generated more than 9,000 jobs in all – with almost three quarters of these (6,700) involving Glasgow residents.

A clause in GHA’s contracts means firms must provide jobs and training for local residents and the unemployed. An expert quoted in the study describes this as ‘the most significant pilot for the use of employment and training requirements in construction contracts that has occurred anywhere in Britain’.

The research concludes that there are far-reaching benefits for Glasgow residents, including non-GHA residents.

The report notes a boost to self-confidence for city residents – and that the resulting improvement in the city’s image contributes to the economic priority now accorded to tourism.

The report states: “Not only have living conditions for many of the city’s most disadvantaged citizens been substantially improved, but wider neighbourhood improvements have benefited numerous other residents."

Film crews visiting Glasgow in search of rundown social housing now complain that it is difficult to find what they are looking for.

(GK)