West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative Limited

Some of the blocks of flats on the estate
Company type	Housing co-operative
Founded	February 1989 (February 1989)
Key people	Paul Farrell (director) Anne Anderson (chair)
Revenue	£4,644,342 (2020)
Net income	£555,915 (2020)
Total assets	£40,500,800 (2020)
Members	681 (2020)
Number of employees	36 (2020)
Website	wwhc.org.uk
Footnotes / references 2020 Annual Report

West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative is a housing co-operative and registered social landlord on the outskirts of Glasgow, Scotland. Situated in Cambuslang the co-operative is a social housing provider managing 644 former council housing on the West Whitlawburn estate, housing approximately 2500 residents.^[1][2] As a fully mutual housing co-operative the tenants are members and shareholders and elect a management committee of members to oversee the running of the organisation.^[3] Founded in 1989 the co-operative is one of the largest housing co-operatives in Scotland, and one of the few stock transfer social housing co-operatives not to have been converted into a housing association.^{[citation needed]}

The estate was originally developed at the end of the 1960s by Lanark County Council as one of Glasgow's many new peripheral estates. Construction of the six present-day tower blocks was completed in 1970 with a total of 432 flats. The 13-storey pre-fabricated concrete towers blocks were built by Reema Scotland at a total cost of £1.25m.^[4][5] The newly built estate also included a number of low-rise blocks of flats.^[6][7]

As with many post-war tower blocks the development was initially lauded, with the developers extolling the aesthetics of the towers, the internal features, and the communal laundry.^[5]

However, by the 1980s tenants were dissatisfied with the management and upkeep of the properties by the Council alongside issues of crime and drug abuse.^[8] Frustrated by the perceived inaction of the council, in 1989 tenants formed a housing co-operative and through the stock transfer process took on the ownership and management of the estate.^[8]

In 1996 the co-operative established a community centre on the estate. In 2005 the co-operative became a fully mutual co-operative and a registered charity.^[8] As a registered social housing provider the co-operative is regulated by the Scottish Housing Regulator.

In 2008 the co-operative established Whitcomm Co-operative a separate consumer co-operative to provide fibre-optic broadband connections to members of the housing co-operative on a not-for-profit basis. As a consumer co-operative Whitcomm is similarly owned and governed by its customers.^{[9][10][11][12]}

In addition to the original blocks of flats the co-operative has also built an additional 100 low-rise flats on the estate.^[8]

To try and address concerns about fuel poverty the co-operative installed a district heating system using a 740 kW woodchip biomass boiler to provide hot water and heating to the properties.^[13]

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