Building Briefs – April 30th

Maybole housing development nominated for another award

Ayrshire Housing’s Burns Wynd, Maybole development is one of only two Scottish housing association projects to be shortlisted in the prestigious annual RIAS and RIBA awards.

The development has already won a Saltire Housing Design Award and was judged the best affordable housing project at the 2014 Scottish Design Awards.

The RIAS and RIBA awards include the Andrew Doolan award for Scottish architecture, and the UK and Ireland wide Stirling prize.

The residents of Burns Wynd were delighted to show the judging panel round their homes when they came to assess the development. The panel includes the acclaimed Parisian architect Hugh Dutton.

The development is by Roan Rutherford of Austin-Smith:Lord who has designed many award winning schemes across Ayrshire. Last year, the builder Ashleigh Scotland Ltd also received a commendation for their work at Maybole.

The results of the judging will be announced in Edinburgh on 17 June.

HGV training centre opens in Larnarkshire

A £2.3 million HGV Training Centre has opened at its Motherwell Campus in Larnarkshire.

The 793 square metre facility comprises of a workshop area on the ground floor with a 24 workstation computer suite on the first floor along with a teaching classroom and viewing gallery.

Roseanna Cunningham, cabinet secretary for fair work, skill and training officially opened the new facility.

Scottish landlords enjoy highest rental profits ever recorded

Annual rental returns in Scotland have risen to the highest ever recorded, according to the latest data.

The figures provided by Your Move, show that Scottish landlords have seen total annual returns of 9.7 per cent on average in the 12 months to March.

This is up from 7.2 per cent a year ago.

Landlords are, on average, earning £15,000 per property before paying mortgage or maintenance costs.

The lettings agent said that around £6,000 of the profit comes from rents and £9,000 is on capital gains.

Buy-to-let investors in Edinburgh have experienced the strongest, Your Move said, reaping annual returns in the last year of 13.4 per cent – equivalent to £27,135.

The average monthly rent in Scotland was £539 in March, a 1.3 per cent rise over the year.

Scottish rental prices remain lower than England, where monthly rents stand at £768 on average.

Borders to Edinburgh railway works enter ‘final phase’

The final phase of earthworks has started ahead of the return of rail services between the Scottish Borders and Edinburgh.

It will see material excavated during construction taken from the Ferniehirst area through Stow to Falahill.

The work will take approximately seven weeks to complete.

Network Rail’s project manager Hugh Wark said the works were essential and they would work hard to minimise disruption to the community.

The first passenger trains between Tweedbank and Edinburgh are scheduled to return to operate on 6 September.

Foundations laid for new homes in Lerwick

Building work has begun on two new Hjaltland Housing Association (HHA) projects in Lerwick which when complete will accommodate 55 tenants.

Twelve one-bedroom flats are being constructed for 17 people at Fort Road in the same style as the association’s Excelsior Place development next door.

And 14 properties are under way at Pegasus Place just off Ladies Drive on North Staney Hill. They will house a total of 38 people.

The developments, a £3.5 million investment by HHA, are part-funded by a £1.25m package from Bank of Scotland, extending the bank’s support to the association to £4.5m, and the Scottish Government.

The Fort Road site, the location of the former Shetland Islands Council housing offices, was gifted to HHA by the local authority.

Designed by Dougie Thomson of Gilberts Architects, the £1.5m Fort Road development, to be named Lyndhurst Place after the original house which formed part of the Excelsior/Moonies Wake bar and nightclub, is being built by Hunter & Morrison.

The flats will be constructed with structural steel, blockwork and concrete floors for soundproofing and fire protection. They will be connected to the district heating scheme as well as having mechanical ventilation with heat recovery systems installed.

Low maintenance materials, e.g. natural slates, larch boarding and Aluclad windows are being used.

The £1.9m Pegasus Place scheme, to be named Wista (unsheltered, windswept place), will comprise eight two-person flats, four three-person semi-detached houses and two five-person semi-detached houses.

They have been designed by Redman + Sutherland and are being built by E&H Building Contractors.

The homes will be timber clad with enhanced insulation. They will be heated by air source heat pumps to reduce heating costs.

For both developments the engineer is Arch Henderson, while Michael Thomson is the quantity surveyor and the CDM co-ordinator is the John Duguid Partnership.

Both developments are scheduled for completion in September 2016.

Kirkliston pupils get hands-on construction skills

Kirkliston Primary School’s P7 class has been shown the skills of construction in a hands-on learning session, thanks to a joint initiative by Barratt Homes East Scotland and the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB), designed to raise awareness of the range of careers within the industry.

25 pupils participated in the activities, which included learning skills about building management and construction before working together and putting their new knowledge to the test by building their own giant tetrahedron.

The classroom activity will be followed by a visit to Barratt Homes’ local development, The Elms, where pupils will see first-hand the skills they have learnt in action. They will also see the finished product by taking a tour of the development’s show home.

Fife Council approves first Empty Homes loan application

Fife Council has approved the first successful loan from the ‘Empty Homes Loan Scheme’, a scheme available to owners of long-term empty homes with properties that require extensive repairs to bring them up to a lettable standard.

Mr Adam, owner of an empty property in Kirkcaldy, has successfully secured a loan to allow him to convert the large flat above the Feuars Arms, which has been empty since 2007, into two properties.

Once work is complete, the property will become a 1 bedroomed and 2 bedroomed flat and both will be available for private rent. As part of the loan agreement, the rent charge on these properties will be lower than mid-market rent.

Funding secured for Inverclyde mountain bike project

A £240,000 plan to develop a new mountain bike centre in Greenock is to go ahead after Inverclyde Council secured funding from a national sports programme.

Sportscotland has allocated £90,000 from its Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund towards a facility at Rankin Park.

The design for the new mountain bike hub includes options for a link track, a balance bike track, a skills area and a pump track – a looping trail system of dirt berms and “rollers” designed for bicycling without the rider pedalling.

The project will require one-off funding from the Council of £150,000 and options are currently being looked at to cover the costs of a schools mountain bike programme at Rankin Park.

Public flood exhibitions to be held across Scottish Borders

Four public flood risk consultations are to be held across the Scottish Borders region.

The exhibitions will provide advice to the public on Flood Risk Management draft strategies developed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

Plans developed by local authorities for the Tweed, Solway and Forth Estuary Local Plan Districts (LPD) will also be revealed.

The consultation dates are:

• Lesser Hall, Hawick Town Hall, 5 May, 11am to 7pm.

• Council Offices, Rosetta Road, Peebles, 8 May, 11am to 7pm.

• Burgh Chambers, Galashiels, 13 May, 12.30pm to 8pm.

• Council Chamber, Duns, 14 May, 11am to 7pm.

Works announced in Inverness to install bus gate

Construction work in Inverness is due to be carried out on 5 May to improve public transport access to Raigmore Estate.

Contractors Pat Munro will carry out the works on behalf of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

A bus gate will be developed as part of wider access improvements to link Inverness Campus with the city centre.

Temporary traffic lights will be installed close to the current pedestrian crossing point.

Works are expected to last up to eight weeks and will require the closure of one lane of each carriageway on Millburn Road.