The Luma Tower

Built in 1938 as the Luma Lightbulb Factory - a joint venture between the Scottish Cooperative Wholesale Society (SCWS) and a Swedish Cooperative Society - this remarkable Art Deco building lies on Shieldhall Road in Glasgow. The work of SCWS architect Cornelius Armour, the most prominent feature of the building is a 25.6-m (84-foot) high curved glass tower which has the appearance of an airport control tower. Once forming part of the immense SCWS Shieldhall manufacturing complex, developed from the 1880s, the Luma factory was built to coincide with the 1938 Empire Exhibition which took place in Bellahouston Park, situated 1½ miles (2.5 km) to the southeast.

After having lain empty for a number of years, the building was B-listed in 1988. In the 1990s it was converted into 43 flats for the Linthouse Housing Association in an award-winning urban renewal scheme designed by Cornelius McClymont Architects. The distinctive tower, which is now flood-lit at night, serves as office accommodation.


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