Building Briefs – August 21st

Landscaping investment to help Countesswells community flourish

Aberdeen’s largest new community is set for a further phase of investment in landscaping which includes new pathways which will connect Countesswells woods to Hazelhead woods.

Work is due to begin on a planned integration of new sections of path that will allow walkers, cyclists and horse-riders to travel from one woodland to another, passing through the new community of Countesswells.

To date, the infrastructure including new roads and utilities represents £15 million of investment, with more than £2m spent on the strategic landscaping and green space that forms the heart of the community amenity at Countesswells. This includes the creation of the new Cults Burn park and burn, a large children’s play park that overlooks a pebble beach, adjacent to the new burn, with aquatic plants along its route.



There is also the community orchard, with fruit trees and herb gardens, various wildflower meadows containing shrubs, grasses and a variety of plants. This, in turn, has created a bio-diverse landscape which is attracting a plethora of new wildlife. Various interconnecting pathways suitable for walkers, cyclists and horse riders meander under and over timber bridges and boardwalks.

The new £800 million community to the west of the city is being taken forward by Countesswells Development Limited, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Stewart Milne Group.

 

Housing minister opens new Forres affordable homes



96-year old Lily Hendry, who moved into her new council property last month, with housing minister Kevin Stewart MSP

One of Moray’s newest affordable housing developments has been formally opened by minister for local government, housing and planning, Kevin Stewart MSP.

Mr Stewart made the trip to Forres yesterday to meet with tenants living at the new 20-unit, £2.5 million development, which was completed in June.

Moray Council now has tenants occupying all homes on the site, which includes 12 one-bedroomed flats, four two-bedroomed bungalows, two two-bedroomed wheelchair accessible bungalows and two four-bedroomed houses.



Chair of Moray Council’s communities committee, Cllr Louise Laing, said the completion of the development marks significant investment in housing infrastructure in the area.

Springfield Properties built the 20 homes for Moray Council in Forres.

 

Eco-house project revealed at Scottish estate

Rowallan Castle Estate, near Kilmarnock, has unveiled plans for the development of up to 66 eco-houses.

The estate, which is owned by Niall Campbell and has a championship golf course designed by Colin Montgomerie, has teamed up with Cherish Homes for the project.

The eco-houses will feature thermal insulation, triple-glazed windows and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery as standard.

Additional options include ground-source or air-source heat pumps which, the estate noted, “pull heat into the house even on a cold day”.

Construction is expected to start in October, with an open day for existing and prospective buyers planned for September 1 at the estate.

 

Rothesay Ferry Terminal lifts set for £100,000 upgrade

Upgrade work to improve the lifts at Rothesay Ferry Terminal is currently programmed to begin in October of this year subject to procurement and off-site fabrication of materials by Argyll and Bute Council’s contractor.

The council has commissioned Stannah Lift Service Ltd to carry out almost £100,000 of upgrades to the lifts, based on recommendations made by an independent specialist hired to identify the best way forward.

 

Former Aviemore call centre to be transformed into affordable homes

Planning permission has been granted to transform a former call centre in Aviemore into an affordable housing development.

Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) approved the plans to convert the office block off Dalfaber Drive into 20 social rental flats with a mixture of one and two bedroom properties. A new block will also be built, consisting of four cottage flats.

 

Further consultation to take place on proposed Kirkintilloch homes

A further consultation event is being held on the revised proposals for more than 50 new affordable homes in Kirkintilloch.

Locals are being welcomed to find out more about the plans and offer their opinions at the event.

East Dunbartonshire Council and Bield Housing and Care are proposing to develop an area of land known locally as Cleddans Playing Fields (or Tottie Park) into 53 new affordable homes. The development would include social rented and shared equity flats and houses, along with an additional 37 new retirement apartments and a daycare facility.

The public exhibition event on the proposals will take place on 22 August between 3.15pm and 7pm at Hillhead Community Centre, Meiklehill Road.

This is the second public event after a successful consultation was hosted in autumn 2017.

The plans displayed at the exhibition will be available on the consultation pages of the council’s website and paper copies can be viewed at Kirkintilloch Community Hub following the exhibitions.

 

Price per square metre of Scottish homes unveiled in new report

The amount of space house buyers get for their money in different parts of the country has been considered in a new report from the Bank of Scotland.

Instead of defining homes by the numbers of rooms, the study measures property by the price per square metre.

According to the report, West and Central Scotland have seen the biggest increase in house price per m2 in Scotland over the last five years but traditional housing hotspots in the East remain the most expensive.

Larkhall and Lanark both saw the largest house price growth per m2 over the last five years at 33% to an average price of £1,163 and £1,184 respectively, closely followed by Dalkeith, Bathgate and Hamilton (all 32%).

In Scotland, house prices per m2 have risen by 20% since 2013 from an average of £1,320 to £1,579 in 2018. Greater London has experienced substantially faster growth than elsewhere in Great Britain over the same period, with an average increase of 52%.

Unsurprisingly, Edinburgh is Scotland’s most expensive town at £2,669 per m2. Linlithgow in West Lothian (£2,076 per m2) is the second most expensive town, followed by Stonehaven in Aberdeenshire (£2,039 per m2).

Grangemouth in Stirlingshire is the least expensive town in Scotland with an average price of £1,016 per m², followed by Bellshill in North Lanarkshire (£1,030 per m2).

Of the top 10 most expensive towns in Scotland per m2, six are in Edinburgh and the Lothians with the remaining four in Aberdeenshire. Whilst it is no surprise that these financial and industrial hubs dominate the house price per m2 charts, the difference in price per m2 between Broxburn in West Lothian (one of the top 10 most expensive towns in Scotland), and Grangemouth in Stirlingshire (the least expensive town in Scotland) is only £653 per m2.

Whilst this is a fair amount of cash, it shows that Scotland’s housing market is less polarised than south of the border, with the difference between Lambeth (one of the top 10 most expensive towns in England), and Nelson (the least expensive town in England) a massive £5,465.

Eight of the 10 towns with the lowest prices per m2 are in either central or western Scotland. In addition to Grangemouth (£1,016) and Bellshill (£1,030), these include Irvine (£1,090), Larkhall (£1,163), Coatbridge (£1,147) and Wishaw (£1,159), all in Central Scotland, along with Greenock (£1,090) and Dumfries (£1,124) in the West of Scotland. The two towns with the lowest house prices on a per m2 basis are Lochgelly (£1,100) and Glenrothes (£1,167), both in Fife in the East of Scotland.

The East of Scotland has seen the biggest house price per m2 increases in Scotland over the last 20 years. Edinburgh grew the most at 207%, followed by Stonehaven (200%) and the two Highland towns of Inverness (179%) and Elgin (177%) also saw substantial increases over the last two decades. Edinburgh is the only town in Scotland to have an average house price per m2 above the British average of £2,342.

The average price per m2 across Scotland has increased by 148% over the past 20 years from £637 in 1998 to £1,579 in 2018. This is the lowest increase of any area of Great Britain, with Greater London experiencing price hikes of 301% and Wales seeing an increase of 180%. The average increase across Great Britain since 1998 is 215%.

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