Building Briefs – December 19th
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Public submits views on £20m Union Terrace Gardens redevelopment
Over 1,400 responses have been recorded on proposals to redevelop Union Terrace Gardens (UTG) in Aberdeen.
Plans for the £20 million project, which have been drawn up by LDA Design, aim to conserve the Victorian park’s heritage while enhancing access, amenity and activity.
A public engagement exercise to gather feedback for the development ran from 02 – 09 December.
Proposals include:
Work forging ahead on Kirkintilloch Town Hall
Work is striding ahead on the rejuvenated Kirkintilloch Town Hall, which will be a centre for heritage, arts, culture and community use.
The new town hall - which will be functional, flexible and fit for the 21stcentury - is due to open in late summer 2017.
East Dunbartonshire Council has been working with development partner hub West Scotland, contractor CBC and East Dunbartonshire Leisure and Culture Trust to develop the design since the start of 2015.
Support has been secured from the Heritage Lottery Fund and other external funders.
Plans include: ground-floor event space; new entrance, reception and vestibule; first-floor heritage display; new office and community space; and kitchen, store room, toilets and locker room.
The aim is that the new facility is flexible enough to cater for a range of uses - such as performances, events, weddings, heritage displays, receptions and meetings.
There will be an adjoining extension and the restored building will have a potential seating capacity up to 300.
Funding boost for proposed station at Dalcross
The Scottish Government has given plans for a new railway station at Dalcross a significant boost with the announcement of £3.34 million funding package.
The new station proposal, which includes a car park with drop off facilities for buses and taxis, will provide improved access to Inverness Airport, a planned housing development at Tornagrain and the Inverness Airport Business Park.
More broadly it will help increase access to the rail network for passengers along the A96 corridor towards Inverness.
New guidance unveiled to protect heritage buildings from climate change
Historic Environment Scotland (HES) has unveiled new guidelines towards protecting Scottish heritage buildings from climate change.
The ‘Climate Change Adaptation for Traditional Buildings’ publication contains a series of strategies to provide advice towards homeowners, landlords, and building and construction professionals.
In addition, the guidance describes good practice in maintenance and repair, as well as demonstrating how traditional buildings can be improved or adapted to better deal with the wetter winters brought by climate change.
Around 450,000 traditionally built buildings exist in Scotland, with many used as private homes, offices and public buildings.
To view the publication, visit here.
New £7m primary school opens in West Lothian
A new £7 million primary school has been opened in West Lothian.
The new Southdale Primary was built by Ogilvie Construction in partnership with Currie and Brown, David Narro Associates, AHR Landscape, CDM Scotland and West Lothian Council.
Features of the eco-friendly school includes solar panels on the roof to save energy and greatly increased insulation to keep the school weatherproof. In addition, the building has been designed to ensure the school can continue to grow to suit local housing developments, allowing the school to extend in pairs of classrooms.
Other highlights include new classrooms, GP rooms, nursery facilities, gym, dining and additional future-proof accommodation.
£400,000 Broxburn library refurb complete
Work on a £400,000 library refurbishment project in West Lothian is now complete.
The Broxburn Library has been redeveloped following a council improvement project.
Work will now begin next week to move the service to Strathbrock Partnership Centre.
As a result, West Lothian Council said the service will be unavailable from 19 December – 09 January to facilitate the relocation.
Final route agreed for Edinburgh West to East link scheme
Detailed designs are now set to be drawn up for a £5.5 million project to create a family-friendly west to east cycle route through Edinburgh city centre.
The City Centre West to East Link and Street Improvements (CCWEL) project aims to install a largely protected cycle way to and through the city centre, providing a crucial link from existing QuietRoutes in north and west Edinburgh to Leith Walk and intended to encourage many more commuters to choose to travel into town by bike or on foot instead of by car, reducing congestion and contributing to improved air quality as well as boosting health and fitness.
A decision was reached on a number of outstanding design issues which required to be finalised after the scheme’s approval in principle by members of the Transport and Environment Committee on 30 August 2016.
Following a Capital Coalition motion approved by the Committee, a new stakeholder group was created to help project staff finalise the design.
Wolfson Foundation makes major donation to Glasgow School of Art revamp
The foundation established by one of Glasgow’s most successful businessmen has donated nearly half a million towards the revamp of the fire-hit Glasgow School of Art.
Born in the Gorbals in 1897, Sir Isaac Wolfson made his fortune the mail order industry through the firm Great Universal Stores.
The Wolfson Foundation - a charity set up in his honour - has awarded more than £800 million to 10,000 projects across the UK.
Dumfries Whitesands flood protection plan agreement sought
A major river defence project for the flood-prone Whitesands in Dumfries is aiming to make progress.
Councillors are being asked to formally publish the plans and adopt them as a flood protection scheme.
The cost of the project has risen to £25 million from previous estimates of between £15m and £17.8m.
The Scottish Government would meet 80 per cent of the bill with Dumfries and Galloway Council required to find the remaining figure of about £5m.
The plans have faced criticism over the loss of river views and a reduction in car parking spaces.
However, the council said it had tried to address those and the investment would provide flood protection and create a “high quality public open space”.
Oban social housing plans approved
Plans have been approved to build a new social housing development in Oban.
The application for six two-storey houses east of Hayfield brings the number of units on that site to 18, all affordable; significantly more than the 25 per cent which is required in Argyll and Bute Council’s local development plan.
Revamp for Montrose wildlife trust visitor centre
The Scottish Wildlife Trust’s Montrose Basin visitor centre will receive a £37,800 revamp at the start of 2017.
The visitor centre will close for about six weeks from New Year’s Day to allow the improvements to take place.
The improvement project received the money through the Heritage Lottery Fund.
New Orkney rural housing and energy guidance unveiled
A new strategy has been unveiled on how to develop rural housing and energy on the Orkney Islands.
The ‘Housing in the Countryside’ supplementary guidance and the ‘Energy’ supplementary guidance were published for public consultation last week.
The first strategy outlines Orkney Islands Council’s proposed approach to single houses and new housing clusters in the countryside. Key features include enabling housing opportunities while protecting productive farmland, as well as the landscape.
The ‘Energy’ supplementary guidance provides guidelines for balancing impacts of energy developments – including heat networks, energy from waste, district heating, fuel and energy storage and all renewable energy including onshore wind energy – with economic and other positive impacts.
Feedback on the two documents can be provided until February.
School pupils prepare time capsule as tenement restoration nears completion
Children from Tollcross primary school in Edinburgh are filling a time capsule with mementoes to mark a major restoration project at a pre-1919 tenement.
And the P5 pupils hope their collection of items, which will be placed behind a cornerstone of the building at Earl Grey Street, will lie undiscovered for 100 years.
The tenement is being restored by Dunedin Canmore, part of Wheatley Group, and is just up the road from the primary school.
The finished time capsule will contain a variety of items including letters and pictures from the pupils along with local and national newspapers, photos of the class and staff who have worked on the building and newsletters from Dunedin Canmore.
The Earl Grey Street restoration project is one of largest and most complex Dunedin Canmore has tackled to date. Work began on the site, where Dunedin Canmore has 24 homes, in September 2015 to halt crumbling stonework. Since then the extensive work on the outside of the building has included repairing the original stonework and roof slates.
The regeneration project is part of Dunedin Canmore’s commitment to sustaining the future of its older pre-1919 homes by delivering a £10 million investment programme over the next decade. The project won a commendation at the CIH Awards in November 2016.
It is due for completion in Spring 2017.
Meet the Buyer event: North Lanarkshire affordable homes
Robertson Partnership Homes is to host ‘Meet the Buyer’ events as part of its plans to deliver affordable housing projects for North Lanarkshire Council during 2017 and 2018.
To be delivered through the Scape Framework Agreement, the projects will give rise to extensive opportunities for local people and businesses.
To find out more about the forthcoming work and how to get involved visit the North Lanarkshire Council offices on Philip Murray Road in Bellshill ML4 3PA on Wednesday December 21; Session 1: 11.00am - 12.45am; Session 2: 1.00pm - 2.45pm.
Cruden helps support Rutherglen and Cambuslang Foodbank
Kind-hearted colleagues from Cruden Building and Renewals Ltd, with support from contractors Jewson and Grahams, have held an office food donation over the last few weeks. Kellyann Cassidy and the admin team have been the focal point for the donations which have now been delivered to Rutherglen and Cambuslang foodbank’s base at St Columbkilles Church in Rutherglen, in time for Christmas.
The foodbank provides a vital service to hundreds of families in Rutherglen and this latest contribution will be a welcome boost at Christmas.
As well as donating food, generous staff also raised a further £500 which was used to purchase more essential food items.
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