Building Briefs – April 1st

Clydebank Housing Association begins work to deliver 44 new homes

Work has started on a project to deliver 44 homes for affordable rent for Clydebank Housing Association (CHA).

Worth around £5 million, the design and build contract will see AS Homes (Scotland) Ltd develop the homes at the former Gala Bingo/La Scala site on Graham Avenue in Clydebank.

Demolition of the existing building, which has lain derelict for some years, is now underway and will take around three months to complete.

A planning application has been lodged with West Dunbartonshire Council to erect 44 housing units for affordable rent and includes 20 x 1 bedroom and 20 x 2 bedroom flats and 4 x 2 bedroom wheelchair adapted flats and will be funded by both private finance raised by CHA and Scottish Government grant via its Affordable Housing Investment Programme.

The new homes will be extremely energy efficient and will meet the Scottish Government’s Greener Homes Standard and West Dunbartonshire Council’s silver standard.

It is hoped that the building contract will commence on site around summer 2016.

Tenders invited for Perth city centre improvements

Contractors are being invited to bid for work involving public space improvements in Perth city centre.

The council has now released information to six contractors selected during the first phase of the tender process.

The scheme at Mill Street represents the first phase of public realm improvements in the Perth City Plan.

The works are intended to complement wider investment in the area, such as the future redevelopment of Perth Theatre as part of creating a city Culture Quarter.

Existing road and pavement layout will be replaced with improved shared space environment, while the vennels that currently link Mill Street with Perth High Street will be upgraded.

The project will result in land being unlocked for potential small to medium size developments.

The works programme for the contract is between late July 2016 and February 2017.

Renewable generation in Scotland up by 15 per cent

The amount of electricity generated in Scotland from renewable energy increased by more than 15 per cent last year to 57 per cent.

Figures from the UK Department of Energy and Climate Change said Scottish renewable energy generated more than quarter of the UK’s green electricity.

The figure for England was 65 per cent, 6.1 per cent for Wales and 2.5 per cent in Northern Ireland.

Across the UK, renewable energy generated nearly quarter of all electricity output. It was less than a fifth in 2014.

The fastest growing element of green energy was in solar photo-voltaic cells, increasing production in Scotland by more than one third to 193 gigawatt-hours (GWh).

Across the UK, solar power production was up 87 per cent to 7500 Gwh, yet that was after delivering only around an eighth of the potential from its installed capacity. That rapid output growth was also despite a fall in hours of sunshine.

Output from wind turbines in and around Scotland was up by 21 per cent, partly due to more wind during last year than in 2014, and also because of a 5 per cent increase in installed capacity.

With output reaching 30 per cent of potential capacity for installed onshore wind turbines, Scottish output reached 14,100 GWh, out of a 22,000 GWh green output in total.

Onshore wind from Scotland represented more than two-thirds of the British total. However offshore wind, almost all of it from turbines located in the seas off English and Welsh coasts, is now producing more energy than Scotland. There is also more British biomass output than Scottish wind power.

There was growth in output from biomass burning in Scotland, but it was offset by lower electricity generation from landfill gas and sewage sludge digestion.

Blackwood and CCG welcome Dundee planning approval

Plans by Blackwood for a housing development on a disused piece of land in Dundee have been given the green light.

CCG Scotland is now set to build 23 homes on a brownfield site off Glamis Road.

The site, which was previously occupied by a flatted development owned by Blackwood, will comprise of 17 homes large enough for families and available to buy, with the remaining six available for rent, and accommodating full wheelchair access.

Designed by Barham Glen Architects, the proposed units would comprise of a mix of nine four-bedroom detached houses, eight three-bedroom semi-detached houses and a ‘concept unit’ block of six two-bedroom affordable, particular needs flats.

The council backed the plans, saying that the development was suited to the site.

Loreburn Housing Association celebrates housing milestone

Loreburn Housing Association and local building company Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd have celebrated the completion of over 500 new build affordable homes together.

Loreburn has been providing affordable homes since 1982 and operates across Dumfries & Galloway. It owns almost 2,500 properties, 94 per cent of which were built on behalf of the Association by local building contractors.

Established in 2001, Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd has offices in Dumfries and Prestwick covering the South West and Central belt of Scotland and delivers a wide range of new build and refurbishment projects throughout these regions.

Since 2004 the partnership has completed in excess of 27 separate housing developments, creating over 500 new affordable houses for rent in areas ranging from Moffat to Stranraer to Annan. Through this work the organisations have allowed people to move back to their home town or village and in some instances to move back into the local area whilst continuing to receive the support they need.

For Ashleigh, this has generated a sustained pipeline of projects over the years allowing investment in the local economy through employment, local companies and apprentice training.

The latest completed development was at Turnberry Crescent, Annan which provided an additional 20 houses on a previously greenfield site.

Oldest windmill in Scotland to be restored from ruin

The B-listed Dysart Windmill in Fife, which dates back 400 years and is officially listed as “ruinous”, is to be restored from ruin.

The landmark, which once sported sails, could be fitted with an internal spiral staircase and a glass-covered viewing platform with Fife Council funding.

The first step of the refurbishment to strip ivy and repoint the stonework will begin this week. The vaulted tower windmill was built in the 1650s, pre-dating a similar structure at St Monans by more than a century.

Fife Council archaeologist Douglas Spiers said he was confident funding could be secured for a proper refurbishment project.

He hopes a spiral staircase will be constructed within the windmill’s interior and a viewing platform at the summit, possibly covered by a new glass dome.