The Scottish Special Housing Association was established in 1937 to provide good-quality

social housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

. It had headquarters in Edinburgh's West End, Palmerston Place and Manor Place,

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, where it employed a large team of architects, engineers and quantity surveyors. It was responsible for the construction of many social housing estates, including "Area D" of the

Hutchesontown Hutchesontown is an inner-city area in Glasgow, Scotland. Mostly residential, it is situated directly south of the River Clyde and forms part of the wider historic Gorbals district, which is covered by the Southside Central ward under Glasgow ...

Comprehensive Development Area ("D" was one of the more successful schemes in the area compared to the infamous "C" and "E" developments), and peripheral estates of

Arden Arden may refer to: Places ;Australia *Arden, an area in North Melbourne, Victoria near the Arden Street Oval ;Canada * Arden, Ontario ;Denmark * Arden, Denmark, a town **Arden Municipality, a former municipality, including the town of Arden ; ...

, Toryglen and

Wyndford Wyndford is an area of the city of Glasgow, Scotland. Located northwest of the city centre in Maryhill, Wyndford is bounded by Maryhill Road to the north and the River Kelvin to the south. The area comprises council housing that is typical of t ...

, all in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. It was an early adopter of Computer Aided Architectural Design. Its chairman from 1968 to 1972 was Sir William Gray who went on to be Lord Provost of Glasgow. SSHA had a large Direct Labour Organisation (DLO) which helped develop a no-fines concrete building technique which was used to build thousands of houses. In 1989 it was abolished (as a direct result of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

policy on privatisation under

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013) was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conservative Party from 1975 to 1990. S ...

) and some of its functions transferred to Scottish Homes. The 75,000 housing units were transferred to

housing associations In Ireland and the United Kingdom, housing associations are private, non-profit making organisations that provide low-cost "social housing" for people in need of a home. Any budget surplus is used to maintain existing housing and to help fin ...

and co-operatives between 1990 and 2005.

References

Housing associations based in Scotland 1937 establishments in Scotland Organizations established in 1937 1989 disestablishments in Scotland Organizations disestablished in 1989 Organisations based in Edinburgh Defunct organisations based in Scotland {{Scotland-poli-stub