Building Briefs – April 4th

Ogilvie gears up for growth with new machinery upgrade

Ogilvie Construction has invested £65,000 in two new excavators as part of a programme to upgrade machinery to meet growth plans.

Groundworks manager Robbie Reilly and senior buyer Lauren Kidd were on hand this week to take delivery of the new machines at the company’s headquarters in Stirling.

The two JCB excavators will be brought into service immediately to meet current high demand. Ogilvie’s teams are working on a range of projects across Scotland including new student accommodation, schools and hotels.

Donald MacDonald, managing director at Ogilvie Construction, said: “It is essential that our teams are properly equipped to deliver high quality buildings on time and budget for our clients. The new excavators are part of our continued investment in equipment and training to ensure that we consistently meet the high standards that our customers expect. Our on-site teams operate with over 150 hourly paid employees, rather than relying heavily on sub-contractors, with a total focus on quality.

“Our order book remains strong and we expect to see continued steady growth in operations over the next year.”

£2.5m Dumbarton waterfront pathway approved

Plans have been approved to build a new £2.5 million waterfront pathway in West Dunbartonshire.

The 1,140 metre route will link Dumbarton Town Centre to Dumbarton Rock, with completion scheduled for December 2019.

Features of the wide walkway/cycle path includes fitting guard rails, wave walls and lighting along the route, as well as appropriate stopping viewpoints.

Around 30% of the project’s cost will be met by West Dunbartonshire Council, with the remaining 70% split with landlowers such as Dumbarton Football Club, Turnberry Homes, Lidl, Culross/Dunbritton and Historic Environment Scotland.

Green light for Cairngorms hunting lodge plan

A scheme to transform a derelict hunting lodge in the Aberdeenshire wilderness into an inn for walkers and cyclists has been given the go-ahead.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has backed plans to redevelop the Victorian-era Derry Lodge, west of Braemar, into a 20-bedroom hostel.

The National Trust for Scotland is behind the proposals for the C-listed building, on its Mar Lodge Estate.

The new-look building, roughly three miles from any road and a well-known sight for walkers, would have space for two staff, retaining its lounge and dining rooms.

In the summer months, Derry Lodge would be open to group bookings with live-in staff.

Throughout the winter, it could be leased out.

AECOM to carry out coastal town flood protection studies

AECOM has been appointed to carry out comprehensive flood protection studies for two coastal towns in the Highlands.

The contract will see the engineering design firm produce detailed hydraulic models to better understand the combination of tidal and river levels during storm events and how these result in flooding in Thurso and Golspie.

Both towns have suffered from flooding incidents over the years that has affected domestic and business properties. In addition, both Thurso and Golspie have been identified as Potentially Vulnerable Areas (PVAs) in the Highland and Argyll Local Flood Risk Management Plan.

The results from the study models will allow the council to assess the most sustainable solution to effectively mitigate the flood risk in each area for the mid to long-term.

Each study will, by spring 2019, have developed outline designs for public consultation and council approval.

Angus Council building standards team re-appointed as verifier

Local government and housing minister, Kevin Stewart MSP, has re-appointed Angus Council’s building standards team as the building standards verifier for the geographical area.

The division will carry out the verifier role over the next six years from 01 May.

The verifier’s role is to grant building warrants once they are satisfied that the design will satisfy the standards set out by the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.

All of Scotland’s 32 local authorities are being appointed for different periods, namely one year, three years and the maximum of six years.

Work begins on Inverclyde road improvement project

Scotland TranServ is to begin a road improvement project in Inverclyde.

The £51,000 scheme involves overnight resurfacing and line markings on the A8 in Port Glasgow.

The project will help address issues with potholes and superficial cracks in the carriageways approaching the waterfront roundabouts either side of B&Q. Once the road has been resurfaced it will be necessary to add new lane markings.

The road will shut from 8pm to 6am until Wednesday, 05 April to allow work to be carried out.

Cost of repair work to Aberdour hall revealed

Work to repair a vital community hub in Aberdour will cost an estimated £46,000.

St Fillan’s Church Hall, which accommodates a range of local activities including a parent and toddler group, scouts group and coffee mornings, is in need of urgent repairs to its roof.

Damp has started to creep in to the B-listed building, which dates back to 1790, because of faults in the roof.

Roof felt has rotted away, exposing the timber underneath.

Although there is no question mark over the work going ahead, church property convener Willie Crowe said the cost would leave reserves “very depleted”.

A fundraising campaign has already raised around £5,000. As well as a collection box in The Purple Shop in Main Street, events are being organised to raise the money needed.

DM Hall moves its Glasgow North operation into city centre

Independent chartered surveyor DM Hall is moving its Glasgow North branch into the heart of the city’s business district at 220 St Vincent Street, a Grade B listed building which has been sensitively reinvented as an office development.

For approaching 50 years, the firm’s busy and effective Glasgow North office has been located in the Georgian terrace of Newton Place next to Charing Cross.

Eric Curran, managing partner of DM Hall, said the move was prompted by two considerations: first, Glasgow North will become a centre of excellence, bringing together residential, commercial valuation, commercial agency and building consultancy expertise.

Second, it will bring DM Hall physically closer to the hub of business and commercial activity in the centre, making access to its professional services quicker and more convenient for clients.

At the same time, DM Hall will also be investing in modernising its Glasgow South office in Shawlands, with new equipment and furniture as well as new external signage.

These developments follow the firm’s recent extensive rebranding and significant advances in its computerised service to its client base. A new IT system will also be launched later in the year.

SELECT to launch new SQA course in electrical safety

SELECT, the campaigning trade body for the electrotechnical industry in Scotland, is to introduce a major new customised course in electrical safety which will relate to the most current aspects of safety awareness in the sector.

The new Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) course is in development at the moment and is likely to be launched as a pilot in the third quarter of this year before full introduction.

With safety a key concern in the industry, it will be aimed primarily at contractors, as well as managers and personnel within these firms who have a responsibility for ensuring safe operations.

To be called the SELECT SQA Customised Award in Electrical Safety, the course will run over two and a half days and will initially be held at SELECT’s HQ at the Walled Garden outside Edinburgh, though thereafter it will be rolled out across Scotland.

Dave Forrester, head of technical services at SELECT, who runs the organisation’s training department, said that obtaining SQA accreditation was a rigorous process involving strict audits of all the course material, all assessments and all methods of assessment.

Before implementation, the course will also have to achieve a credit rating from the Scottish Credits and Qualifications Framework, the national body which both audits and benchmarks new courses. It is hoped the accreditation processes can be run concurrently.

The first day of the course will concentrate on Construction, Design and Management Regulations and Risk Assessment; day two will deal with Safe Isolation of electrical systems; with day three covering the laws relating to Environment and Waste Management.

The SQA course in electrical safety is the latest initiative from SELECT. The organisation’s courses have gained a strong reputation within the construction sector in Scotland, because they are relevant, practical and based on the experience of some of the foremost experts in the field.

BAM Construct UK Ltd choose new charity partner

BAM Construct UK Ltd has teamed up with charity CLIC Sargent and pledged to raise £100,000 over the next two years to help children and young people with cancer thrive, not just survive, during and after cancer treatment.

The BAM team chose CLIC Sargent, the UK’s leading cancer support charity for children, young people and their families, after inviting charities to pitch for their new charity partner.

Now, BAM Construct UK Ltd’s £100,000 target could pay for CLIC Sargent to provide over 4,000 hours of support for young cancer patients and their families.

CLIC Sargent’s nurses, social workers and other frontline staff across the UK work tirelessly to limit the damage cancer causes beyond a child or young person’s health by minimising the disruption cancer causes to their education, social life, finances and future prospects.

In addition to employee fundraising activities there will be opportunities for the BAM team to volunteer at CLIC Sargent’s ‘Homes from Home’. These are the charity’s houses close to specialist treatment hospitals across the UK, which offer free accommodation for families.