Building Briefs – December 22nd

Property developer Whiteburn Projects has released for sale new build apartments together with mews homes on their Parkview development in Dundee.

The move follows the successful completion and sale of the first 13 apartments and mews houses of its sensitive conversion of the existing building, with a further 10 apartments sold off plan for completion in the New Year.

The Grade B listed building, originally designed by James McLaren & Sons and completed in 1896, has long been one of Dundee’s treasured landmarks with its prominent position at the apex of Blackness Road.

Architects Page\Park have worked sympathetically with the building to retain as many original features as possible – from the three elegant cast iron balustrade staircases to the canopy running around three sides of the private landscaped courtyard which will create a private shared space for the residents.

To the north of the courtyard, the original walls of the former laundry have been retained to create five bespoke mews homes, incorporating courtyard facing balconies, zinc cladding and full height glazing to the gable ends.

Homeowner Housing Panel releases annual report

The Homeowner Housing Panel (hohp) has published its first standalone annual report, which covers its first full year of operation from 1 January - 31 December 2013.

The panel is a devolved Scottish Tribunal which was established by the Property Factors (Scotland) Act 2011.

The hohp offers dispute resolution for problems occurring between homeowners and their property factors. An application can be made to the hohp where a homeowner believes that their property factor has failed to comply with its factoring duties and/or the statutory code of conduct for property factors.

During 2013, a total of 5200 enquiries were received by hohp, and 333 applications were received from homeowners across Scotland during the year. The applications covered a wide range of issues, including all aspects of the code of conduct. One of the most common issues complained about was poor communication and consultation by property factors, and these types of complaint were the ones most frequently upheld by hohp committees.

A considerable number of the applications received were complex, whether because of the number of complaints included; multiple applications being heard together; the nature of the legal issues in dispute; and/or the extent of the paperwork submitted by the parties.

While the hohp had been up and running for just 15 months by the end of 2013, a number of emerging trends are noted in the report.

The report can be accessed here.

Warm response to additional East Ayrshire funding

Housing improvements in East Ayrshire will be moving forward at pace thanks to a £1 million funding boost announced as part of East Ayrshire Council’s 2015/16 budget proposals.

The funding will deliver a programme of external enhancements, environmental improvement, energy efficiency measures like external wall insulation and rendering works to be carried out on council housing stock, similar to the extensive works already carried out in communities across the authority.

An additional funding announcement of £150,000 will mean that even more residents will benefit from warmer homes.

The new funding, which will support the Scottish Government’s Home Energy Efficiency Programme for Scotland (HEEPS), will enable the council to continue its plan to insulate adjoining private Weir timber houses using this funding at the same time as the council houses next door.

Rothesay Townscape Heritage Initiative ‘progressing well’

Argyll and Bute Council’s major regeneration initiative in Rothesay is progressing well, with three of the four priority buildings complete, and the final one, Duncan’s Halls, set to finish this month and the gap site development project moving along nicely with the removal of scaffolding last week and work beginning on the shopfront.

Over £550,000 of work on Duncan’s Halls has mainly related to the roof, but includes: work to address rot issues on the roof, at the rear stair and on the further floor; work to the stonework at the front and rear; chimney work; slating; leadwork; copper; soil waste and rainwater goods at the rear of the building; rainwater improvements at the front; joinery work; rooflighting; refurbishment of the timber sash and case windows and new timber bullseye windows and new decoration.

To date the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI) has invested over £2.5 million in the town’s waterfront gateway which has seen dramatic improvements, renovating Guildford Square and providing ferry passengers with a warm welcome.

A town packed with examples of the ambition and confidence of a Victorian coastal town, Rothesay was arguably the foremost holiday destination for generations of people from Scotland’s west coast. The council’s THI team has worked hard to create a more attractive town centre, improving the historic buildings and safeguarding and creating jobs, both in the repaired retail units and in the local construction industry. Almost 70 grants have been awarded, with work on over 20 properties in the town centre.

As far as possible the contracts have gone to local contractors, with 16 going to island firms, another 2 to Argyll based contractors.

Loch Ness lighthouse transformed into cottage

The smallest inland lighthouse in Britain is to be transformed into one of the most unusual holiday cottages in Scotland - just in time for its 200th birthday.

The historic Bona Lighthouse, which sits on the banks of Loch Ness, was originally built to guide boats from the Loch into the Caledonian Canal.

Now the building designed and built by Caledonian Canal engineer Thomas Telford is part of a £497,000 project to turn the B-listed building into two holiday apartments.

The project was undertaken by the owners, Scottish Canals, with support from the Vivat Trust and Historic Scotland.

Transport minister Derek MacKay MSP officer reopened the two luxury holiday apartments last week.

Work set to start on big tidal energy project

Construction of the largest planned tidal energy project in the world is expected to begin off the Scottish coast next month.

Atlantis, the majority owner of the MeyGen project, has announced that it has finalised all of the conditions required to initiate its first drawdown from financiers the Crown Estate and Scottish Enterprise.

The project has the potential to power nearly 175,000 homes through a network of 269 turbines on the seabed at Ness of Quoys in Caithness.

Campaigners upset at historic Aberdeen school building demolition plans

Campaigners in Aberdeen fighting to preserve a 19th-century building have been left “bitterly disappointed” following a meeting with developers planning to raze it.

Representatives of Barratt Homes attended a Torry Community Council meeting to discuss their plans for Victoria Road school.

The housebuilder has lodged a proposal of application notice for 62 homes at the site – 25% of which would be affordable housing.

Aberdeen City councillors voted 19-14 to have the school demolished to make way for developments in October.

The local authority decision was made despite a campaign by the community council to save the 136-year-old school, built after a fundraising drive by Torry fishermen in 1878.

Douglas McLeod, regional director at Barratt Scotland, said conversion of the building “was not economically viable”.

Homes plan for hospital brings NHS windfall

NHS Tayside is set for a huge financial windfall from the approval of a multi-million-pound 220-home plan for the former Strathmartine Hospital site.

As communities around the sprawling site continue to digest the controversial decision of a special meeting of Angus Council on Thursday which overturned an official refusal recommendation to reject the proposal, delighted developers confirmed the conversion of the B-listed main block into 24 flats will be part of the first phase of the works.

It has also emerged a claw-back clause inserted into the sale deal for the site will see a percentage of income from 180 homes paid to the health authority.

Planning officials had recommended refusal of the Heathfield Ltd proposal for 198 new build homes and 24 flats on the grounds that it breached council policy and was excessive in scale.

But councillors voted 12-9 for the bid against a backdrop of fears that doing nothing would see the site fall into further decay.

Strathmartine Community Council immediately condemned the decision as “profoundly anti-democratic and stunning in its hypocrisy.”