Building Briefs – December 11th

• Perthshire holiday resort expands following £1m HSBC backing

Rod and Adelle Sim, owners of Silverwood Lodges and Bistro, supplemented their own financial input with an initial £300,000 loan from HSBC UK to develop the 20-acre site in 2017. This first phase of funding helped develop six acres in to a serviced and landscaped holiday lodge resort, including installation of mains services to each lodge plot, landscaping and dry-stone entrance-way gates. 

The couple then secured an additional £700,000 to build the new luxury lodges, with 13 currently on-site and planning permission submitted for six more as well as a new bistro. The growth will mean the resort can cater for approximately 100 guests.

The Sims acquired the old clay works site at Inchcoonans, outside Errol, approximately 10 years ago before developing it. They now employ five members of staff, with additional cleaning and grounds keeping staff expected to join the team when all of the lodges are fully functional and when the bistro opens in spring next year.

In addition to the new bistro, the couple have now put a scheme in place allowing them to sell some of the lodges as a managed financial investment.

• Green light to demolish Aberdeen showroom

Plans have been approved to flatten a vacant kitchen and bathroom showroom in Aberdeen and build a new development.

Campbell and Sellar submitted plans to demolish the showroom, offices and store on Greenwell Road in East Tullos Industrial Estate, Aberdeen.

In its place they would build four new business units and a single-storey extension to a workshop in the south-west corner of the site.

Under the conditions, the developer must submit an energy statement that includes full details of energy efficiency measures which will be incorporated into the development.

The site would include 27 parking spaces and would use the existing access road on Greenwell Road.

• Developer given more time to create 17 Dundee city centre flats

A developer who wants to transform a listed city-centre block of flats has been given more time to start work on the project.

Dundee City Council planners have approved extra time for work to start on the development at 95 Seagate – 10 years after it was first approved.

But Red Court Developments Ltd – the company which asked for the extension – has been ordered by the local authority to undertake archaeological investigations first.

The B-listed building was once the former Loyal Order of Shepherds premises.

Council bosses signed off the project in 2008 and an additional three years were granted to continue the project in 2014.

Red Court Developments’ original application said the project would “enhance the integrity of an important Category B listed building”.

• Glasgow City Council leader visits new Gorbals homes

New Gorbals Housing Association welcomed Susan Aitken, the leader of Glasgow City Council, when she visited their brand new housing development to help handover keys to new tenants.

The 55-home project by New Gorbals Housing Association was funded by an £8 million grant from Glasgow City Council in partnership with the Scottish Government, and £2.5m private funding from The Housing Finance Corporation. This development is the latest addition to the Laurieston Transformational Regeneration Area.

New Gorbals Housing Association commissioned Glasgow architects Page/Park to design the homes and worked in partnership with developer Urban Union to deliver this striking building, including a seven-storey tower that fully realises the potential of one of the most prominent sites in the Gorbals.

This development of affordable housing includes 46 homes for social rent, largely a mix of one and two bedroom flats, and a three bedroom flat on the ground floor that is adapted for a person using a wheelchair. There are also nine properties in the development which will be sold under the new supply shared equity scheme.

• New visitor hub opens at Belleisle

A ceremony has taken place at Belleisle Park to celebrate the opening of a brand new visitor hub. 

The £1.5 million hub is South Ayrshire Council’s latest addition to the Belleisle Estate in partnership with the Heritage Lottery Fund. The fully accessible building features community space, an office for Park Rangers, accessible public toilets, changing facility and a café (opening Easter 2019).

The attractive building stands on the site of the parks’ former stable block, with much of the stone from the stables incorporated into the new build.

Reusing older materials is very much in keeping with the spirit of the new visitor hub, and its green credentials extend to a biomass boiler. Along with solar panels and LED lighting, these additions mean the hub has achieved a fantastic energy performance rating.

Nestling alongside the golf clubhouse which was completed in 2016, the visitor hub brings the total investment in Belleisle Park to £5.4m over the last 5 years.

Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd built the visitor hub.

• Surveying and project management firm expands south of the Border

A Scottish building surveying and project management firm is to invest over £1 million expanding into north-west England.

PMP has recruited five people for a new Manchester office which will be led by director Ben Walker, formerly head of office for CS2, in a move to take advantage of growing demand in commercial real estate projects.

A five-year lease on offices in Spinningfields, which will be staffed by a new team including an associate, senior surveyor and graduate, has been signed.

• Housing development in Glasgow’s South Side move forward

Plans for a major housing development in the South Side have cleared their first hurdle. Property investors Hansteen Holdings and housebuilder Persimmon Homes have been given planning permission in principle to create up to 200 homes near the M77 in Darnley. The proposals, which will see a seven-hectare site at Darnley Mains transformed, include a mix of detached, semi-detached and terraced properties.

• Green light for plan to turn former Aberdeenshire care home into flats

A former Aberdeenshire care home can be turned into flats, a council has said.

Aberdeenshire Council asked its planning department for permission to convert and refurbish the former Fraserburgh Children’s Home in the town’s Scalloway Park into six apartments, each with one bedroom.

The two-storey building became empty when a newly-built children’s home opened opposite.