Building Briefs – December 14th

Plans have been submitted for 121 new homes in the Craigmillar area of Edinburgh.

CCG and EDI Group PARC Craigmillar’s proposals mark the first residential phase of the Craigmillar Town Centre Masterplan.

The proposed layout comprises 1 and 2 bedroom flats facing Niddrie Mains Road arranged in a single four storey terrace, behind which will be situated clusters of 2 and 3 bedroom two storey terraced housing.

Sitting within the site there will be a considerable amount of community space including a gated park for children and a public realm.

CCG expects to be on site in the Spring of 2016.

214 homes planned for Edinburgh’s Bonington Village

Miller Homes have drawn up plans for a development of 214 homes arranged over five blocks at Bonington Village, Edinburgh, on a site presently occupied by warehousing.

Architects EMA aim to reinstate the building line with blocks ranging up to six storeys fronting a range of existing and internal streets in addition to semi-private spaces to the rear with public access also offered to the Water of Leith.

The scheme will be designed in accordance with Designing Streets with an expectation that neighbouring industrial properties will also make way for more housing in the fullness of time.

CALA Homes to build over 100 flats in Glasgow

CALA Homes have submitted plans for 101 homes arranged over three blocks of up to five storeys at Mansionhouse Road, Glasgow.

Penned by Macmon, the project seeks to adopt a traditional ‘tenemental’ form with a setback façade of facing brick fronting a landscaped amenity space.

Common entrances will lead out onto a public footpath with DWA landscape architects coordinating the open space strategy.

Dandara wins ‘Best in UK’ title for Aberdeen family home

A luxury family home created by premium developer Dandara has won the best architecture (single residence) in the UK title at the International Property Awards.

The Spruce was chosen by a panel of more than 70 highly respected independent experts from around the globe at the ‘world’s best’ stage of the competition in London.

Dandara competed against more than 2000 of the best property professionals in the world to win the title with the developer’s Stoneywood development in Aberdeen nominated in two further categories; best architecture (multi residence) in the UK for the Waterton Mews development and the UK’s best development marketing.

New brand for Fife Housing Group

Fife Housing Group has launched a new brand uniting Fife Housing Association, Prism Property Solutions and their subsidiary PACT under one roof.

The new brand represents the vision and values of Fife Housing Group as it moves forward, committed to building the foundations of an excellent business for the benefit of both tenants and other customers.

The Group’s primary focus will be ‘Getting the basics right’, with a new business plan dedicated to turning round previous poor performance and making a real difference to tenant’s lives.

West Lothian’s County Buildings revamp underway

Works to re-develop Linlithgow’s County Buildings are underway.

West Lothian Council is refurbishing the interior of the building to create a new partnership centre in the town.

The timescale for the works had to be revised after asbestos was found to be present within the building fabric following extensive checks that were carried out prior to the refurbishment programme commencing.

However work to refurbish the facility is now underway and it is planned that the multi-million investment will be completed by Spring 2017.

The building has been vacant since September 2013 with all staff now located to other council premises.

Given that the building is right on the busy high street, people may see more activity around the County Buildings. There should not be much disruption locally, but the car park behind the building will be closed from Friday 11 December at 5pm. The car park will remain closed for the foreseeable future.

Consultation launched on proposed new Elgin primary

Public consultation gets under way this week on proposals to establish a new primary school to serve Elgin’s fast-growing south-east suburbs.

Although an exact site is still to be finalised and construction will not be completed until 2018, pupils at the new school could will begin lessons in temporary accommodation at East End Primary School annexe from next August.

A catchment area for the new school has been finalised as part of a recent review of primary school zoning in Elgin.

Once it is located at its permanent site, the school will also include nursery provision.

The public consultation will continue until February 4 and will include consultation meetings at Elgin Town Hall on Wednesday, January 6 from 2pm to 3.30pm and again from 6.30pm to 8pm.

The consultation document can be found on the Moray Council website at www.moray.gov.uk and is also available from Moray Council headquarters, Elgin library and New Elgin and East End Primary Schools.

A report on the outcome of the consultation will go to the council’s children and young people’s services committee on April 27.

Plan to reach one million acres of community land ownership by 2020

A strategy to significantly increase the amount of land in community ownership has been published by the Scottish Government.

The report by the one million acre short life working group recommends a number of proposals to deliver the one million acre target by 2020 and spread the benefits of community ownership, including:

- stimulate demand for community owned land through raising awareness

- build capacity of communities to take land ownership projects forward

- improve access to support services and develop a network of support providers

- address issues around the availability of land and barriers to the supply of land

The report identified 480,000 acres of land already in community ownership, which has recently been increased to over 500,000 acres by the acquisition of land by The Pairc Trust since the report was finalised.

Name for new Armadale school agreed

The new £7.5 million primary school for Armadale is to be called Southdale Primary School.

West Lothian Council’s education executive agreed the new name, after a public consultation with local school pupils and the wider community.

Southdale was the preferred name suggested by schools pupils at two of the town’s three existing primary schools, as well as the most popular name directly suggested by members of the public.

The motion by Executive councillor for education Lawrence Fitzpatrick also proposed dedicating and naming the school’s assembly hall in remembrance of First World War hero William Angus, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry and was born close to the school site.

A 302 signature petition from Armadale and District War Memorial Association was received supporting the proposal that the new school be named in recognition of William Angus’ deeds.

Contractor Ogilvie Construction Limited started work starting onsite in June 2015, with eight new classrooms, two General Purpose rooms and nursery provision for 60 pupils open for the 2016/17 academic year.

The new school will be built in two phases, with 16 new classrooms, school nursery, gym and community wing when fully complete. Photovoltaic (solar) panels will be installed on the roof along with a greatly increased insulation envelope and air tight design to save energy costs.

First phase of landscaping will also include one grass pitch and one tarmac Multi-User Games Area (MUGA). Second phase landscaping will also include for a full size community use grass pitch.

New sport and fitness suite opens in West Lothian

A new modern fitness suite has been opened in West Lothian.

The ‘Endurance’ facility was unveiled at West Lothian College on 11 December.

Features of the centre include specialist teaching facilities in cardiovascular, weight training and sports specific conditioning.

The development was part of a £1.1 million investment programme supported by the Scottish Funding Council.