HERITAGE INTERIORS
Period interior decoration
Period cornicing repair, ceiling-rose restoration, hand-cut lines for listed and Conservation Area properties across G12.
Learn more
GLASGOW · HILLHEAD
Painters & Decorators Hillhead
West End tenement flats around Byres Road and Great Western Road, Highburgh Road mansion blocks, Cresswell Street student conversions. Borthwick has worked Hillhead for decades — common-stair coordination, sash-window repainting, period-correct Victorian paint specification.
4.9 / 5average rating
175+verified reviews
1959est. — 65 years of craft
£10 millionpublic liability cover
Welcome to Borthwick Decorators Hillhead
Borthwick Decorators works on listed Victorian tenement flats, West End mansion blocks and university-area property conversions across Hillhead G12. Heritage period-property specialism, common-stair coordination, six decades of Glasgow experience. 175+ verified reviews at 4.9/5 rating.
West End tenement, university spine.
Hillhead is the architectural heart of Glasgow’s West End — the late-Victorian tenement belt around Byres Road, Great Western Road and Highburgh Road, with the University of Glasgow’s Gilmorehill campus anchoring the west side. Property stock is dominated by four-storey late-Victorian sandstone tenement flats with shared closes, mansion blocks on the wider streets, and a smaller layer of converted university-fringe residential.
Decorating Hillhead: Glasgow City Council Conservation Officer documentation for the substantial Conservation Area, common-stair programme coordination with factor, sash-window discipline for the tenement stock, period-correct Victorian paint specification.
AWARD WINNING
2025 Cultural Renovation Project of the Year
2025 Residential Category
2024 Private Domestic (Pre-1919) Project of the Year — Contract Manager 2024
View all awards →
WHAT WE DO IN HILLHEAD
Our painting and decorating services in Hillhead
WALLPAPER
Wallpaper hanging
Feature walls to whole rooms — walls lined first, patterns matched, seams tight. Designer papers and wide-width vinyls hung properly.
Learn more
KITCHENS
Hand-painted kitchen cabinet
In-situ cabinetry painting using Farrow & Ball Estate Eggshell or Little Greene Intelligent Eggshell. Brush and roller on-site, no spraying.
Learn more
STONE & EXTERIOR
Sandstone & masonry coatings
Lime washes, mineral paint and breathable systems for Glasgow sandstone elevations. Scaffold or tower hire coordinated.
Learn more
COMMUNAL
Tenement common-stair painting
Common-stair redecoration coordinated with factor and stair committee. Phased programmes that keep the close moving.
Learn moreRECENT WORK NEARBY
Recent work in and around Hillhead
ABOUT HILLHEAD
Glasgow's West End Victorian tenement heart.
Hillhead is one of Glasgow’s most coherent late-Victorian residential characters — a tenement-and-mansion-block belt built out in the 1870s-1900s around the new West End estates and the Glasgow University Gilmorehill campus. Property stock is almost wholly four-storey late-Victorian sandstone tenement flats with shared closes, with smaller layers of mansion blocks on the wider streets and post-war infill toward the Botanic Gardens edge.
On the ground that means Glasgow City Council Conservation Officer documentation, common-stair programme coordination across the tenement belt, sash-window repainting for the substantial surviving original-timber stock, and period-correct Victorian paint specification. Borthwick has worked the postcode for decades.
GLASGOW CLIENT FEEDBACK
A small sample from our Glasgow portfolio.
Borthwick decorators completed my living room interior and I was blown by the standard of work and the outcome. The work effort and team work was exceptional making sure was completed to a high standard leaving everything clean and tidy working in a timely manner.
The painting team have done a superb job of our sitting room. The painters were polite, friendly and professional. Good to see trades apprentices learning the skills along side those who are time served.
COMMON QUESTIONS
Working with us in Hillhead.
Do you take on listed and Conservation Area work in Hillhead?
Yes. Hillhead sits in a Glasgow City Council (or South Lanarkshire / East Dunbartonshire) Conservation Area with substantial listed-building density. We hold the heritage finishes specialism and the documentation discipline conservation officers expect.
Which streets do you cover?
All of G12. Strongest concentration of recent work on Byres Road, Great Western Road, Highburgh Road and the surrounding tenement closes.
How do you handle occupied tenement flats?
Most Hillhead tenement work is occupied. We agree daily start and finish times with the household, dust-protect the working zone, and coordinate with the factor on common-stair access.
What is your lead time for residential work?
Four to six weeks typically. Listed-building consents add six to twelve weeks of pre-work paperwork; we handle that liaison.
Do you work with interior designers and architects?
Regularly. We support sample boards in Farrow & Ball, Little Greene and Paint & Paper Library, attend site meetings as part of the design team, and execute to RIBA briefs.
NEARBY AREAS
Areas near Hillhead we work in.
Accreditations & memberships
Public liability insurance to £10 million.
PDA
Painting & Decorating Association
SDF
Scottish Decorators Federation
SSIP
Safety Schemes in Procurement
Trusted Trader
Edinburgh — Trading Standards Vetted
SafeContractor
Independent H&S Verification
CHAS
Contractors Health & Safety
SMAS
Safety Management Advisory
PASMA
Mobile Access Towers
IPAF
Powered Access (PAL)
CONTACT — GLASGOW
Speak to our Glasgow team.
Borthwick Decorators LtdGlasgow Office
20–23 Woodside Place
Glasgow G3 7QL