THE Clyde stands today on the verge of a new history. Out have gone the shipbuilding and heavy industries, consigned to the archives, and in are coming hi-tech jobs, the service sector and riverside homes.

As the Clyde shipbuilding industry declined in the 1970s and 80s, the derelict yards and quays cried out for development.

Now new life is being breathed into the overgrown and dilapidated sites which once employed tens of thousands of men.

Land which was once the bedrock of heavy industry has been transformed beyond recognition. Ultra-modern, multi-billion pound developments now stand proudly on the banks of the Clyde.

And the skyline has been dramatically changed by blocks of luxury apartments and buildings such as the Armadillo and the Squinty Bridge.

The massive regeneration is in its early stages and 2007 will see many more old landmarks disappear and the pace of change accelerate.

In a ground-breaking two-week series, IAIN LUNDY will examine the key areas of the Clyde, their industrial past and the grand plans for their future. Today he begins by exploring the Lower Clyde - from Greenock to the Erskine Bridge.

AT 5pm every weekday the hooter sounded at the giant Scott Lithgow shipyard, the steel gates swung open and a tide of humanity poured out on to the streets of Greenock.

Many headed straight across the main road to the Para Handy pub - named after the fictional captain of the puffer Vital Spark.

But to the thousands of men and boys employed in the shipyards which stretched along the Greenock shoreline, puffers were only small fry.

Behind the tall red brick walls which divided the yards from the town, they built submarines, oil carriers and some of the biggest supertankers in the world.

In the late 1970s, more than 12,500 men worked at Scott Lithgow. The yard was at one time the biggest private shipbuilding firm in the world and, along with Harland and Wolff in Belfast and Swan Hunters on Tyneside, one of only three UK yards able to build supertankers.

By the early 1980s, however, the industry was beginning to collapse and now the sights and sounds of the shipyards which stretched for miles through Greenock and Port Glasgow are a distant memory.

Scott Lithgow tried to stay alive by building oil rigs, but in 1988 it closed and five years later the company ceased trading.

It was a shattering blow for a town which has never had its problems to seek - derelict shipyards meant no jobs and an exodus of more than 20,000 people.

But now the seeds of regeneration are being sown in Greenock - and if all goes to plan the waterfront will be alive again, this time with marinas, flats, shops and up-market hotels.

There will be working docks, and the deepwater port at Ocean Terminal already attracts container ships and cruise liners.

The biggest difference to anyone travelling through Greenock is that, for the first time in generations, the spectacular view across the Firth of Clyde is visible from the road after most of those big red walls were knocked down.

Bill Nicol, newly-appointed chief executive of Riverside Inverclyde, the body set up to oversee the development, said: "The scenery is unrivalled. We have a panoramic view over the Clyde."

He knows scenery alone will not transform the town, but is optimistic about the challenges that lie ahead.

Mr Nicol said: "There are some very ambitious plans for the next 10 years, including a £45million marina where the Vital Spark used to sit next to Custom House Quay.

"But we can't just have a prestigious area along the waterfront. We must have a link with the local community; it has to benefit from this, that is crucial."

The lion's share of the development in Greenock is being carried out by Clydeport which owns vast stretches of the old shipyard sites. The former Victoria Harbour and East India Docks - facing the town's fire station - is to become a 220-berth marina with almost 300 houses.

Another marina is planned for the huge James Watt Dock. The giant crane and former Sugar House on the site make up a World Heritage Site.

Housing, shops and offices will be built there and part of the dock will become a working harbour.

As for the Scott Lithgow site, new workers have moved into call centres for telephone operator T-Mobile.

Clydeport's managing director Euan Jamieson said more housing is also planned for the site and hopes a ferry link to Northern Ireland can be established there.

The Kingston dry dock - where the QE2 was taken to be fitted out in the 1960s - will remain a working dry dock.

And on the site of the long-gone Para Handy bar, a nursing home will stand where the men of the yards once liked a drink.

Housing will also replace the old Kincaid and Cartsdyke yards.

In Port Glasgow the change has been equally dramatic. A new section of the main A8 has been routed away from the town centre and along the waterfront.

A hotel and houses will be built near the river.

Port Glasgow is where the Comet, the world's first commercial steamship, was built.

And Ferguson Shipbuilders in the town is the only remaining yard on the Lower Clyde. North bank

On the opposite bank and upriver of Greenock, the pace of regeneration has been slower.

Some old shipyards passed into history in the 20th century, most notably the Denny of Dumbarton yard where the Cutty Sark was completed.

The 1963 closure of Denny's sent shockwaves through the industry.

The site has now been cleared and Dumbarton Football Club's new Strathclyde Homes stadium occupies the area.

A few miles further upriver are the remnants of the Scott's yard at Bowling - where the Clyde steamers of the 50s and 60s used to spend the winter. The village is also the site of a former Esso oil terminal.

Scottish Enterprise Dunbartonshire is now working with other bodies to turn Bowling into a major waterfront tourist attraction.

A casino is one possibility for the village which has a large harbour and sits at the opening of the Forth and Clyde canal.