Until the 1990s, the area was characterised by four-storey red sandstone tenements built at the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th, and three-storey Rehousing grey reconstituted stone tenements from the 1930s. A continuous line of tenements faced Richmond Park – a typical large urban park with boating pond, opened in 1899 and named after the Lord Provost of the time, Sir David Richmond whose tube works were located nearby – across busy Rutherglen Road, one of Glasgow's main arterial routes. Notable features included a small cinema and a place of worship designed by John Honeyman, known as the Buchanan Memorial Church and later St Bonaventure's RC Church ; its associated schools were sited just off the main road at the western end of the neighbourhood with the nondenominational Woseley Street Primary School and the local 'steamie' also nearby. By the mid-1990s, almost all of these amenities had either been knocked down or were scheduled for demolition along with the housing, the main exception being St Margaret's Church which was earmarked as the site of a new community centre, but its conversion was delayed by various factors including the poor condition of the building. Richmond Park School, a specially-designed facility for children with physical disabilities, was built on the site of Woseley Street School, but its roll merged with Kelbourne School in the west end of the city in 2009, in spite of protests by parents and staff. The intention was to move pupils from another ASN school, Hampden School in Toryglen, into the Richmond Park site, and this process was accelerated when the existing Hampden buildings were subject to an arson attack in 2010. The Oatlands facility was subsequently renamed Hampden School and is the only educational provision in the area. After a long process of demolitions –beginning with the red sandstone tenements which had been redeveloped just a few years earlier, leading to more problems being created than solved – in April 2005 work started on a comprehensive redevelopment scheme to create a new neighbourhood consisting of around 1,510 houses. The award-winning project was promoted by Glasgow City Council, the lead developer being Bett Homes with involvement from the Link and Glasgow Housing Associations, the local housing stock of the latter now being owned and managed by the New Gorbals Housing Association. By September 2007, part of the traffic by-pass, 44 private houses and 172 social-rented dwellings had been constructed. Progress was severely impacted by the Great Recession from 2007 onwards, however the walkway by the River Clyde, linking to Hutchesontown, was reopened in 2011. Also at that time, the M74 extension motorway project was completed, with a junction serving Oatlands. Part of the land clearance in the area had been for the construction of the motorway and the reconfiguration of its major road to meet this new junction and connect to the Glasgow East End Regeneration Route, but had also encountered safety problems and attracted protests due to the presence in the ground of carcinogenic Chromium VI which had been dumped by a large chemicals firm that had operated nearby. That contamination also affected the burn running through Richmond Park into the River Clyde. Over 500 houses had been completed by 2014, with detailed planning permission given that year for another 378 private houses. The new tenements around Oatlands Square involved the installation of public artwork. A steel sculpture on a prominent junction, named 'Oatlands Girl' and featuring references to the district's past, was unveiled by Nicola Sturgeon in 2016. Two allotment sites were laid out, and the Oatlands Development Trust created a new play area as the first phase of the £2 million extension and upgrading of Richmond Park. The diversion of Rutherglen Road to the southern edge of the site was designed to allow integration of nearly all the housing with Richmond Park. A family pub/restaurant opened in 2018, while future plans include a community centre, shop units, and school improvements. The project is almost entirely funded by Avant Homes in lieu of payment to Glasgow City Council for the land. The regeneration project was not without controversy. For many years, redevelopment was prevented because of the risk of fire or explosion from propane stored nearby; 756 flats in red sandstone tenements were demolished after the failure of a £7 million refurbishment scheme. Attempts to regenerate the area were initially stymied by proposals for a business park and resistance from Housing Department officials. Later, although the area's character reflects the outcome of an intensive process of community engagement, the area's design is occasionally the subject of criticism by modernist architects, but signs indicate that the new Oatlands will, if completed in accordance with current plans, become one of Glasgow's more popular residential neighbourhoods.
