Building Briefs - April 7th

• Community buys land in Lochinver for affordable housing

With support from the Scottish Land Fund, the Trust has bought 55 acres of former glebe land from the Church of Scotland at the end of March, marking the next step of a 15-year community-led search to find suitable land for building much-needed affordable homes for the local community, as well as other facilities.

With the land now in community ownership, the Assynt Development Trust is hoping the site will deliver multiple benefits to the community, and plans to hold further consultations in the local area once Covid restrictions are eased.

The site, situated on the road towards Glencanisp Lodge, was identified after a thorough process of surveys, housing need evaluations, and careful thought and planning.

Initial ideas for the site are being explored, to potentially include affordable homes, an all-abilities path network, commercial work units, and education and training facilities. The Communities Housing Trust supported the community with the land acquisition, and will continue to help facilitate the development process.

• Community-owned affordable housing drive launched in Dufftown

Dufftown and District Community Association (DDCA) has launched a period of consultation, scoping and design for future expansions to Dufftown’s housing stock.

The housing will be affordable in nature with a targeted approach to attract future residents as defined by community consultation.

The housing design will be fit for a net zero carbon future with appropriate steps made to ensure that the housing is compatible for living through a changing climate.

DDCA is working with the Communities Housing Trust to support its approach, consultations and project scoping, delivering a design ready for tendering to construction partners. 

The provision of affordable housing in Speyside to support new families and local residents to move up the housing ladder is in high demand, along with housing for those in their later years who require assisted living to stay in their local community.

The Communities Housing Trust has been working with DDCA neighbours at Tomintoul to help them develop the old school into locally tailored housing to improve their community.

After an initial period of development, consultations will be made public by autumn to help shape the future needs of the affordable housing.

• ZeroC launches new show home and marketing suite at Longniddry Village  

ZeroC, part of Places for People, has opened the doors to its new show home at Longniddry Village in East Lothian.  

Visitors can explore the four-bedroom detached ‘Laurie’, which is the first show home of its type in Scotland, and the marketing suite which has been transformed with a brand-new look.  

The Longniddry Village development will deliver a mix of two, three and four-bedroom homes for sale, all featuring timber sash windows, a range of stylish kitchens, floor and bathroom tiles to choose from, and feature chimneys with log burning stoves in the larger four-bedroom family homes. The development also includes a range of affordable homes for rent exclusively designed for people over 60.

Longniddry Village is being developed in partnership with landowners Wemyss and March Estates. The development includes extensive open space with a new village green and restored mill pond which adds to its appeal, and with Edinburgh only 20 minutes away this development offers the best of country living.

• Change of use planned for vacant Glasgow pub

Planners are being asked to agree that an empty Gallowgate bar can be turned into a hot food takeaway.

A change-of-use application has been submitted to Glasgow City Council for the former Brendans Pub, formerly Kerrys.

Piri King would also have seating, allowing people to eat their ‘takeaway’ on the premises.

• SGN to provide Online Safe Spaces for victims of domestic abuse

SGN has partnered with crisis charity Hestia and its ‘UK Says No More’ campaign as well as the Royal Mail Group to provide Online Safe Spaces for victims of domestic abuse to access specialist support and information through its website.

Online Safe Spaces is a portal that you can access via the logo in the footer of the SGN website. By clicking on the Safe Spaces portal, you will access the Online Safe Space, which holds a directory of national domestic abuse helplines, a directory of local specialist domestic abuse services, and an assessment questionnaire. It also leaves no trace in the user’s browser history.

The portal is accessible in a variety of languages and has a quick exit button, taking the user back to the original page they were on, thereby providing a degree of safety to the user.

It comes at a crucial time for keeping people safe during the pandemic. Recent figures show that there were 30,718 charges reported in 2019-20 related to domestic abuse in Scotland. It’s the highest since 2015-16, and is 5.7% higher than the year before.

Around 20 organisations have signed up including eBay, Royal Mail Group including the Post Office and Parcelforce, Ministry of Defence, and Thames Water. It’s estimated that in the last four months of 2020, there were nearly 4,000 visits to Online Safe Spaces every single day.