World News for Students of English

16-10-2015 07:00

A controlled explosion was meant to bring down six tower blocks in Glasgow.

However, two of the Red Road Flat buildings proved to be a greater pillar of strength than expected.

About 2,500 residents from nearby properties were kept outside the exclusion zone until safety checks were made. But shortly before nightfall, they were allowed to return to their homes.

Glasgow Housing Association said no new exclusion zone was planned for Monday.

The flats were built in the mid-1960s to tackle the city’s housing crisis. Once the tallest residential structures in Europe, they provided accommodation for almost 5,000 people.

When first built, they were considered the answer to the city’s housing problem but became rundown and vandalised.

Officials said the decision to take all six blocks down in one single demolition was made following feedback from local residents. The organisation said it will be holding consultations on development options for the site, so it remains to be seen what Glasgow’s skyline will look like once the dust has settled.

Difficult words: pillar of strength (something which is stable – also something which people expect to stay around for a long time), exclusion zone (an area where people must not go into), tackle (to deal with), residential (for residents, for people to live in), rundown (not nice), official (somebody in a position of authority), remains to be seen (it is not yet certain), skyline (how buildings look against the sky), the dust has settled (when dust goes back to the ground and when a lot of things finish).

Source: www.ondemandnews.com