Building Briefs – December 16th

• Local heroes celebrated in Laurieston art installation

Commissioned by local regeneration firm Urban Union, award-winning art organisation WAVEparticle has created a series of bespoke artworks celebrating community figures who have made notable contributions to the local area.

Over the summer the community was asked to nominate members of the local residents who have inspired them and 16 people were selected from a shortlist of remarkable nominee stories.

Among the selected nominees are community leaders who have dedicated their care and service to the area, including local teacher Elinor McCabe who has educated generations of children in the Gorbals; Jamie Reid, who intervened to prevent someone he didn’t know from taking their own life and Sulaiman Musisi, the security guard at the local Co-op who greets every shopper with a smile.

Each nominee was then photographed individually and a large two and a half metre portrait was made. Printed on metal and arranged in a circle facing one another, the eye-catching artwork will be seen day and night by residents and visitors to Urban Union’s Laurieston Living development.

• Final call for nominations for Aberdeenshire architectural awards

The deadline for nominations for the 12th biennial Aberdeenshire Architectural and Landscape Design Awards is fast approaching.

For the 2020 scheme, Aberdeenshire Council is seeking formal nominations from architects, agents and building owners on built and landscape projects in Aberdeenshire within seven categories.

The award scheme aims to promote the very best in design across Aberdeenshire and features categories including ‘Innovative solutions to housing need’, ‘Conservation and building adaptation’ and ‘Building communities for the future’.

But all nominations must be in by midnight on Friday, December 20 in advance of the awards ceremony which will be held in October next year.

The wider public is also being encouraged to nominate buildings or landscapes in their area, which they would like to see considered as part of the 2020 scheme.

For more details, visit here.

• Harnessing hydro power at Daer Water Treatment Works

A hydro power scheme which includes turbines that can generate enough power to run approximately 690 households a year has been upgraded by Scottish Water at a water treatment works in South Lanarkshire – and the green electricity generated there will avoid the emissions of almost 360 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent this year.

The scheme at Daer Water Treatment Works (WTW) near Elvanfoot includes four turbines, the largest number at any Scottish Water asset, which are generating enough electricity to run the WTW and sell surplus power back to the National Grid.

They are among a mix of renewable technologies the utility is adopting to help achieve its target of becoming carbon neutral by 2040.

The site serves 250,000 customers in Lanarkshire and parts of Greater Glasgow. Between 90 and 120 million litres of water are drawn down from the Daer reservoir each day and processed through two inlet turbines where electricity is generated to power the water treatment process. A compensation turbine powers the on-site sludge treatment works and surplus electricity generated through a spill turbine is sold back to the National Grid providing an income for the site.

The recent optimisation works on the turbines included the installation of a heat exchange system at the WTW. This means that some of the excess electricity can be harnessed and used to augment the current oil heating system, with a financial saving of around £73,000 per year. The green electricity used on site or exported to the grid will avoid the emissions of almost 360 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent this year – that’s the equivalent of 467 individual standard flights from Glasgow to New York.

• Landslip mitigation measures successfully prevent 300-tonne landslip reaching roadside at Glen Kinglas

Innovative landslip mitigation measures installed next to the A83 near Glen Kinglas have been successful in preventing a 300-tonne landslide from reaching the roadside.

The landslip was blocked from reaching the carriageway thanks to specially designed rock-bunds, which were the result of an innovative, sustainable engineering solution using excavated rock during the construction of further landslip mitigation measures at the Rest and Be Thankful catch-pit project just three miles away on the A83.  

The landslip occurred around 230m above the carriageway following a period of heavy rainfall at Glen Kinglas, where teams from BEAR Scotland had been on high-alert during the Met Office yellow weather warning. 

Engineers estimate that the rock bunds helped prevent the A83 from being closed by up to two days as a result of the landslip, successfully avoiding disruption to road users.

Geotechnical engineers have assessed the landslip along with teams from BEAR Scotland for safety with plans now underway to remove the debris from behind the bund.  Short-term lane closures will be in place while teams mobilise plant and heavy machinery to remove the material from the bund.

The rock-bunds form a barrier on the hillside parallel to the A83, and mean that material from a potential landslip is held behind the rock barrier. The 28,000 tonnes of rock used to create them was sustainably re-used during excavations of the nearby £2.24 million catch-pit project at the Rest and be Thankful, where three large ‘pits’ were created to help provide further resilience against potential landslips in the area.  The excavated rock was transported three miles to Glen Kinglas and used to construct the bunds, providing a considerable reduction in carbon emissions with teams saving an estimated 50,000 lorry miles – roughly the same distance as travelling around the world twice – due to the huge reduction in haulage distance for the excavated rock.

Heavy rain throughout the week has meant BEAR Scotland teams have been on high-alert and responding to various incidences of fallen trees and localised flooding on the north west trunk road network since the weekend.

• Russell Roof Tiles makes doggie donation

Lochmaben-based, Russell Roof Tiles is supporting the work of Dumfries & Galloway Canine Rescue this festive season.

Employing 54 staff at its 11-acre Halleaths site, the roof tile manufacturer has donated £500 from its Community Fund to support the rescue centre near Glencaple, which relies heavily on charitable donations from the local community.

Dumfries & Galloway Canine Rescue is dependent on volunteers and has rescued, cared for and rehomed hundreds of dogs since 2013 – many of which are strays, maltreated or unwanted. The charity also provides temporary care for pets during a time of personal difficulty for their owners.

Some of the team at Russell Roof Tiles brought their pets to the Lochmaben site to meet Emma Patterson, the charity manager at Dumfries & Galloway Canine Rescue. She received the cheque on behalf of the charity. 

Russell Roof Tiles’ Community Fund was launched in 2018 and donates to a number of local charities and groups, who receive a share to support the great work they are doing in the local area. Some of the organisations to benefit include Dumfries and Galloway Blood Bikes and Nith Inshore Rescue in Glencaple.

• Barratt selects East Kilbride pupil to design annual Christmas card

A pupil from an East Kilbride primary school has been selected as the festive artist behind Barratt Homes’ annual Christmas card which is issued to its thousands of customers during the festive period.

David, 8 years old, a pupil at Kirktonholme Primary School fended off competition from 60 other designers to be named as the winning Christmas card design for 2019.

David will be commemorated in the Barratt Homes hall of fame for its iconic Christmas card designs and will also have a £100 Smyths Toy Store voucher to spend.

The national housebuilder who hosted the competition will now get the design printed on to its annual Christmas cards, which will be posted to residents across the West of Scotland.

The inspiration behind the design was Santa’s annual visit to the homes in and around East Kilbride. The design shows Santa being pulled on his sleigh by his loyal reindeer approaching the home of a very lucky boy or girl.

• Paisley Housing Association’s West End regeneration project hailed a triumph

An 18-month long regeneration project carried out by Paisley Housing Association designed to boost the environment in Paisley’s West End has been hailed a green triumph.

Now the aptly-named West End Transformation Project from Paisley Housing Association has reached the end of its planned lifespan of a year.

The housing association can look back on 18 months of achievement in what has been the organisation’s biggest ever drive to improve the environment where it has many of its homes.

To mark the end of the initiative, the entire staff of Paisley Housing Association gathered at what is the most visual example of the project – the recently-unveiled mural at Castle Street.

Known as The Young Poet the remarkable artwork was completed by well-known artist Mark Worst and transformed a tenement Gable End which enhances the West End’s environment.

A key undertaking of the project was to improve tenement backcourts so they could become places where people can benefit from improved facilities such as new lawns, better railings and tidier bin shelters.