Building Briefs – August 9th

The original Bellahouston Academy in Glasgow has been transformed into high-quality office accommodation.

The Grade B listed school building, now the Bellahouston Business Centre, sits on Paisley Road West on the south side of Glasgow. Extensively refurbished throughout to high spec office accommodation, it opened in January this year and has already achieved 50 per cent occupancy.

Bellahouston Academy was designed by Glasgow architect, Robert Balde and opened, initially as a private school, in 1876. In 1962 it was replaced by a new school building in Gower Terrace but continued as an annexe until it was finally closed in 2009.

Legendary bass guitarist, Jack Bruce, actor Jimmy Logan, football pundit Chic Young and thousands of other Glaswegians were all educated at the school.

The centre is being marketed by DM Hall.

Robertson begins Aberdeen landmark restoration project

Robertson Eastern has commenced work to restore a community landmark in Aberdeen.

The contractor has removed Seaton’s Totem Pole for renovation work after concerns were raised that the structure was falling into disrepair.

The company will assist community volunteers to repaint the pole until August 15.

The structure was created during a public art project in 2006.

CCG completes final stage of WSHA homes

The final phase of building works has been completed at a social housing development on the outskirts of Glasgow.

Cambuslang-based construction and manufacturing specialists CCG (Scotland) Ltd created 18 cottage flats and a car park at Calmachie for West of Scotland Housing Association. The new development is the tenth phase of construction in this area and the eighth that has been delivered by CCG.

The new cottage flats were created using off-site methods of construction and were delivered to a Silver Standard of energy efficiency thanks to CCG’s own enhanced timber frame system which was complete with CCG-manufactured internal doors, ensuring project completion within a 38 week programme.

Public invited to view A9/A96 Inverness link road options

Local residents and road users are being invited to view and have their say on options for a single carriageway road connecting Inshes to Smithton in Inverness.

The route options being developed for the scheme go on display at public exhibitions in locations in Inverness later this month.

Former Motherwell tower site transformed into 25 new homes

The transformation of the former Glencairn Tower site is now complete with a new £3.5 million modern housing development taking pride of place in the heart of Motherwell.

Following the demolition of the 17-storey Glencairn Tower in 2011, the site is now home to 25 energy efficient properties, all built with solar panels to help minimise running costs for tenants.

The development is part of North Lanarkshire Council’s NL Homes £172m investment programme to build 1,150 new homes across North Lanarkshire, around a third of which have already been built.

A mix of one, two, three and four bedroom homes and cottage flats, the homes include ample parking and garden areas.

In addition, they meet Housing for Varying Needs specification which means homes are more accessible to adapt to tenants’ mobility needs over a lifetime. One property is also fully wheelchair standard.

The homes are also ‘Secured by Design’ accredited, which involves Police Scotland architectural liaison officers having input into the layout and designs to ensure we build safe and secure environments.

A contribution of £1.25m was received from the Scottish Government towards the development costs at the site.

The contractor for the development was Wates Living Space Ltd.

Aberdeenshire multi-use games area upgrade

Work to improve the multi-use games area at Oldmeldrum Pleasure Park will take place from Monday August 15 for approximately six weeks.

As part of the upgrade the surfacing and fencing of the tennis court and games area will be renewed and floodlighting installed.

The work will have minimal impact on the community and those who regularly use the facilities but we will be closing the car park at the top of park lane to allow access for contractors and storage.

There will be no restriction of access to the changing pavilion from the football pitches and any groups that will be affected will be informed of the potential disruption.