Building Briefs – April 26th

James Frew signs up to Kilmarnock FC

James Frew has signed a recent sponsorship deal to support SPFL Premiership team, Kilmarnock Football Club.

The company, which is based in Stevenston, has agreed to track-side and ground advertising for the remainder of this season and next season.

Roddy Frew, managing director, James Frew, said: “As a local business we have many staff members, and indeed customers, who are fans and I’ve personally followed the team for 30 years so we’re all very excited to be involved. We’ll all be taking an even greater interest now if that’s possible.”

James Frew is one of the largest privately owned building service companies in Scotland. The company will be promoting its GasSure brand which provides cost effective central heating protection to more than 12,000 homes.

The company also offers integrated building services including plumbing, heating, mechanical services, gas maintenance and property upgrades for public and private sectors including design, installation and maintenance.

It provides heating and maintenance services for over 50,000 residents within 33 housing associations throughout the Scottish central belt and Ayrshire.

Christine Cuthbertson, commercial manager from Kilmarnock Football Club, added: “We are delighted to welcome James Frew to Rugby Park in a recent sponsorship agreement to promote its GasSure brand. Attracting leading companies such as James Frew is an integral part of our commercial strategy to further develop our partnership with business and the community.”

New £12m leisure quarter built at Glasgow Fort

Work on a new £12 million Leisure Quarter at Glasgow Fort is now complete.

The development, which features four restaurants and a 600-space multi-storey car park, follows the opening of a £35.5 million retail extension in 2015, and a £9m leisure extension in 2013.

The unique CorTen rusted steel design also include a living green canopy and walls, sustainably sourced timber and natural ventilation to enhance wellbeing.

Overall, the £12m scheme provides almost 3,000 sq ft of outdoor dining space, green public spaces, an improved public realm as well as children’s pocket parks

Following completion, British Land and Hercules Unit Trust (HUT) have taken a number of new retail, food and beverage lettings at Glasgow Fort.

New £9m Edinburgh waste depot opened

A new £9 million waste depot has been opened in Edinburgh.

The site at Seafield will increase efficiency by providing a single base for waste collection and street cleansing staff in the east of the city.

The facility has been upgraded as part of a £30m review of the local authorities depots estate. It will significantly improve on existing services, prioritising the health and safety of employees and providing better shelter for vehicles, which will extend life expectancy and enhance day-to-day reliability.

In addition, a tipping facility has been provided for the end of shifts, instead of current arrangements which require off-site tipping.

Plans have also been submitted to develop a similar facility at Bankhead in the north-west of the city, to be completed by 2018.

Both plants will serve a modern Energy from Waste (EfW) plant for Edinburgh and Midlothian, located at Millerhill. The scheme sits alongside a new food waste treatment plant, and will help drive down the amount of waste sent to landfill for partner councils once completed in 2019.

Views sought on Aberfeldy Square environmental improvements

Residents are being invited to find out more information about planned environmental improvements in Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross.

A public exhibition is taking place for local community and businesses to view proposals for Aberfeldy Square. The scheme is aimed at creating a focal point for the town centre, providing a flexible space for events and businesses to boost economic capacity of the town and enhance its tourism reputation.

The council and Aberfeldy Small Business Association (ASBA) are working to secure funding from SSE via the Griffin and Calliachar Community Fund.

The exhibition will take place in the Locus Centre, Aberfeldy between 10am – 6pm on Wednesday, 26 April until Friday, 28 April.

Argyll and Bute 3G pitches to be upgraded

A total of seven 3G pitches are to be upgraded across Argyll and Bute.

Currently, the council maintains a several pitches across the region. However, the six concerned are not currently covered by the existing maintenance and management arrangements, and are in need of repair and refurbishment.

Councillors have now agreed to invest funding in the pitches and transfer them over to the new leisure Charitable Trust. Following a tender process, improvement works will begin.

The location of the pitches are Bendarroch Park, Garelochhead; Kirkmichael, Helensburgh; Tobermory, King George v Park; Innellan; The Cages, Black Park, Dunoon; Lochnell School, Benderloch and Tarbert Community Sport Project.

Milestone reached on £17m Paisley environmental project

A major milestone has been reached on a £17 million environmental project in Paisley.

A Microtunnel Boring Machine (MTBM) has started work to build a one mile-long waste water tunnel/sewer as part of the scheme, which will improve the water quality and natural environment in two local rivers.

Contractors Amey will develop the large diameter interceptor sewer, starting at Bridge Street car park and going across the Watermill Hotel car park and Lonend before going along Saucel Street, beneath Saucelhill Park and the railway line near Canal Street Station, Espedair Street, Rowan Street and Kilncroft Lane/Neilston Road.

The ‘Abbey’ MTBM was launched at one of the 15 shafts along the tunnel route and will install the first third of the tunnel. The structure will be 1200 milimetres in diameter, while two other machines will install the second and third stretches of the tunnel, which will be 1500 milimetres and 1000 milimetres in diameter.

Removing around 45 – 50 tonnes of earth per day, the tunnel will be installed by the pipe jacking method with individual sections of concrete pipe installed sequentially and jacked into position to the rear of the MTBM once the machine has removed the soil. It will be installed mainly in mudstone and siltstone. Overall, the new stretch of sewer will have a diameter of up to 1.5 metres and will be installed at depths of between 4m and 20m.

The £17m project also includes the installation of Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) in the town centre, reducing the frequency of spills from the sewer network into the Espedair Burn and White Cart Water in storm conditions.

The investment is part of Scottish Water’s £250m, five-year programme of work to improve river water quality and the natural environment and tackle flooding across the Greater Glasgow area.

Work on the project started last October and is expected to take two years to complete.

Public inquiry over proposed Culachy wind farm

Conservation charity John Muir Trust is to give evidence at a public local inquiry (PLI) into a proposed new wind farm development in the Highlands.

Developer RES is proposing to build 13 turbines inside Wild Land Area 19 (Braeroy-Glen Shirra – Creag Meagaidh). However, a PLI was triggered after the Highland Council objected to the planning application in December 2015.

Scottish Natural Heritage also opposed the Culachy wind farm scheme, pointing out that it would mean the loss of seven square kilometres of the Wild Land Area.

In addition, the organisation said the height of the turbines would “be out of scale with the landscape” as 12 of the 13 turbines would be almost 150 metres tall, among the highest anywhere in Scotland.

Helen McDade, head of policy for the John Muir Trust, who will give evidence at the PLI, said a wind farm based at the site on the scale proposed by RES would “fundamentally change its character”.

The Culachy PLI is taking place at the Lovat Hotel, Fort Augustus between 25 – 28 April.

Engagement events to take place for Glasgow City Region Deal projects

Residents are being invited to find out more information about two major infrastructure projects spanning Renfrewshire, West Dunbartonshire and Glasgow.

A series of engagement events will take place over four days in Renfrew, Paisley, Clydebank and Yoker. Feedback during the exhibitions will be used to inform a full planning application for both schemes.

The Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project includes developing a new opening bridge across the River Clyde linking Renfrew with Yoker and Clydebank, including construction of the Renfrew North Development Road and new cycle routes.

Elsewhere, proposals for the Glasgow Airport Investment Area include realigning Abbotsinch Road, building a new bridge over the White Cart and developing new cycle routes between the Westway, Inchinnan and Airport business parks.

Plans for the Clyde Waterfront and Renfrew Riverside project will be submitted to Renfrewshire Council, West Dunbartonshire Council and Glasgow City Council, while works related to the Glasgow Airport Investment Area are entirely within Renfrewshire and will be considered by this authority alone. The schemes are part of the Glasgow City Region City Deal.

The exhibitions run from 11am to 7pm and include a video representation of the findings from the comprehensive traffic modelling study, as well as an animated fly-through model of the potential developments.

The events will start at Renfrew Town Hall on Monday, 08 May then Paisley Town Hall on Tuesday, 09 May. The project team then cross the river to Clydebank Town Hall on Wednesday, 10 May finishing at Yoker Community Campus on Thursday, 11 May.

Scallywags lend a helping hand to DJ Laing

Children from Carnoustie nursery Scallywags have been watching DJ Laing’s demolition and housebuilding works on a neighbouring site from their nursery in Taymouth Terrace.

On Friday some children from the nursery visited the development at Malt Loan to meet the team and help with some gardening in the newly built homes.

Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t too kind but this didn’t dampen the children’s spirits. The children took their time with planting some bedding plants and learnt about caring for the plants and how they’d grow in the next few months.

The children also filled up the bespoke bird house (a replica of a DJ Laing home) with nuts for the birds.

After all their hard work they were treated to some well earned refreshments and given sunflower seeds to take home and plant in their own garden. The children will keep an eye on the birds and their plants when they go out for walks from the nursery.