Building Briefs – April 24th

• Muir Walker Pride Architects get green light for St Andrews flats

To be delivered on behalf of Headon Developments, the project includes underground car parking.

Work is expected to start around mid-2020 and is due for completion in 2021.

• Demand for courses booms at SELECT’s new dedicated Training Department

The dedicated Training Department launched last year by trade association SELECT has undergone a dramatic expansion in demand.

Driven by changes to BS 7671 (18th Edition) of the Wiring Regulations which came into force on 1st January this year, the Department has run as many courses in the first quarter of 2019 as it did for the whole of 2018.

In the first three months of 2019, SELECT has run 68 BS 7671 courses all over the country, involving 809 delegates, and is planning at least another 40 courses for the second quarter which will bring the new regulations to another 600 electrical professionals.

As well as the popular BS 7671 courses, the Department is introducing a range of short courses this month in collaboration with New College Lanarkshire to cover aspects of Fire and Security.

It is also working in partnership with Training Plus to deliver courses in Aberdeen, Glasgow and Edinburgh. Training Plus specialises in core Health and Safety elements such as Emergency First Aid at Work and Manual Handling. Future subjects will include Working at Height and Asbestos Awareness.

SELECT’s training team has also just launched The Electrical Site Safety Assessment, a new SQA-accredited course, in conjunction with the Scottish Joint Industry Board, which is aimed at non-technical staff who may work at construction sites.

Dave Forrester, Head of Technical Services at SELECT – under whose remit the new Department falls – said: “The demand for services from the Training Department has exceeded all expectations and Jenny and her team have done a remarkable job in meeting our members’ continuing professional development needs.

• M-Pact Group invests in mask and filter equipment

Edinburgh building services specialist M-Pact Group has invested several thousands of pounds to ensure that its workforce enjoys the highest possible standards of respiratory protection when operating in conditions which require fitted face masks.

The Loanhead firm has invested not only in state-of the-art masks and filters, but also in up-to-the-minute Face-Fit testing equipment and the time and expense of training personnel in equipment use.

It is the latest initiative by an enterprise which gives priority to the physical and mental wellbeing of its workforce, and which last year was named Large Contractor of the Year by electrical trade body SELECT.

Fit-Testing is required in the UK under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health regulations as well as the Control of Lead at Work and Control of Asbestos at Work regulations.

The Health and Safety Executive insists that all employees required to wear tight fitting respiratory protection equipment must be Fit-Tested before initial use. There are two primary methods of Fit Testing – quantitative (particle counting) and qualitative (taste).

M-Pact Group uses the second method and has trained its health and safety manager Martin Robertson and another tester to provide an in-house service which checks compliance of the half-fit masks and specialised filters which the company supplies for work in dusty or polluted situations.

They operate by placing a hood over the operative while he or she is wearing a mask and filter and then spraying a bitter solution into the hood. If the operative can taste it, the mask must be adjusted until it is operating effectively and no taste can be detected.

• Communities secretary opens new Hebridean Housing Partnership development

Aileen Campbell, cabinet secretary for communities and local government, officially opened a new Hebridean Housing Partnership (HHP) development during a visit to the Outer Hebrides last week.

The 12 flats built by Lewis Builders on the site of the former Stag Bakeries in Stornoway are now named Langley Apartments.

The name was suggested by Stornoway Historical Society to commemorate the late Abraham Langley, a former town councillor, Bayhead sub-postmaster and a prime mover in the creation of the Lewis Retirement Centre.

Tenants will be able to move in to their new homes on 23 April 2019.

The development cost £1.34 million of which £868k is being funded by Scottish Government grant.

• Supported housing properties snapped up by private investors

A real estate investment trust has acquired six supported housing properties including 24 units in the south of Scotland.

Triple Point Social Housing has also acquired the land and entered into forward funding arrangements to develop another two supported housing schemes, comprising 80 units in total, for an aggregate commitment of £14.8 million (excluding costs).

The properties are located in South Scotland (24 units), the North West (18 units), South Wales (14 units), the South West (8 units), Yorkshire (8 units), the West Midlands (4 units) and the South East (4 units).

The REIT company said increasing political and financial pressure on housing associations to improve delivery for vulnerable people is creating opportunities for private sector investors to participate in the market.

• Final phase of works begin at River Nairn crossing

The final phase of the project to provide a new crossing of the River Nairn at White Bridge is well underway with work about to start to connect the new bridge crossing with the realigned B9090 route.

The works for this £2.65 million project began in September last year and are being carried out on behalf of the Highland Council by R J McLeod (Contractors) Ltd.