Building Briefs – August 27th

A new board of trustees has been unveiled to raise the remainder of what is required to complete work on a major refurbishment of Aberdeen Art Gallery.

The gallery officially closed its doors earlier this year to allow contractors McLaughlin and Harvey to start on the £30m project designed by Gareth Hoskins Architects.

A third of the money was granted by the Heritage Lottery Fund, with Aberdeen City Council also committing £10m.

The council said about £200,000 has been raised towards the final £10m needed.

This has been through early fundraising and donations. A number of applications have also been made to trusts and foundations for funding.

The redesign of the Schoolhill art gallery building was backed by 27 votes to 15 in 2013.

East Dunbartonshire Council to reveal final primary school design

East Dunbartonshire Council will reveal the proposed final design for a new primary school at an information event next month.

The new school will be built on the site of Woodhill Primary School in Bishopbriggs.

The community drop-in event is the latest stage in a consultation process which began last year.

The projects architects Archial Norr will attend the event along with the project contractor Morgan Sindall and transport consultant Waterman Group.

The exhibition will be held on 2 September between 2-8pm at Bishopbriggs Academy in Cleddens Road.

Aberdeen Ikea store ‘to be size of football pitch’

Swedish furniture giant Ikea will open a shop the size of a football pitch in Aberdeen, it has been revealed.

The retailer hopes to set up a base in the Granite City by Christmas and has expressed interest in taking over part of the Makro site in Altens.

The store will include an order and collection point, as well as a showroom and sales area, cafe and toilets.

The remainder of the space will be split with a downsized Makro and a smaller supermarket.

Plans to split the Makro site into two separate stores were approved in June this year, but the application has been amended to further split the site into three to accommodate Ikea and the two supermarkets.

Edinburgh blocks demolition of Earthy restaurant

Councillors have rejected a developer’s bid to demolish an Edinburgh restaurant to make way for a “bland” block of flats.

Opponents of the application to bulldoze the Earthy restaurant and food shop at 1-6 Canonmills Bridge put their case to the planning committee on Wednesday.

And they are now celebrating after members turned down the bid.

Planning consent had previously been granted for six flats, three townhouses and two restaurants on the site, but the developers still needed to get permission to demolish the existing building because it is in a conservation area.