Annie Flint, author of The<\/em> Tenement Handbook<\/em> and co-founder of Under One Roof<\/span><\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n

Property: detached house, circa 1855<\/span><\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n

Goal: to be as energy efficient as she can<\/span><\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n

Pull factor: background as a housing consultant and researcher <\/span><\/div><\/li>\n\n\n\n

Push factor: maintenance of an old property<\/span><\/div><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n
GETTING STARTED<\/h2><\/div>\n\n\n\n
Annie and conservation architect John Gilbert wrote The Tenement Handbook: A Practical Guide to Living in a Tenement<\/em> before launching Under One Roof, which provides free and impartial information to tenement flat owners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When she was 18, Annie moved into her first tenement flat in Edinburgh. \u201cThe first thing I did was buy a roll of clingfilm and use it to make temporary double glazing,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u201cThe first thing I did was buy a roll of clingfilm and use it to make temporary double glazing.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEver since, I’ve tried to do as much energy efficiency as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From there, Annie moved to Crown Circus in Glasgow, where she embarked on a host of flat repairs and began learning about tenements and factors. This ultimately led to her writing The Tenement Handbook. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI met John Gilbert at a party, and we began solving the world\u2019s ills. John worked for Assist Architects and said, \u2018You should come and work for us.\u2019 I ended up leaving Glasgow City Council, where I worked in the housing department.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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The Tenement Handbook, published in 1993, advised homeowners on how to manage and repair their properties, organise owners within a block, deal with builders, architects and factors and understand the law of properties in common ownership.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Annie had started a family by then and moved to a 1930s single-brick house in Knightswood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was like a sieve \u2013 really cold,\u201d she says. \u201cWe did a lot of internal lining of the walls. To do external lining was just too costly \u2013 still is.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gradually, Annie got the house relatively warm before moving to her current home in Partickhill, \u201caround 25 or 30 years ago \u2013 I don\u2019t have much of a sense of history.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n