Building Briefs - December 7th

• First residents move into smart new social housing in Bearsden

A total of 27 units have been built at Allander Leisure Centre Road in Bearsden, supporting East Dunbartonshire Council’s Local Housing Strategy to deliver a high priority and cost efficient contribution to local supply housing.

The first tenants have already started to move into the finished development which has added 26 flats and one new specially-adapted terraced house to the council’s available stock of rented homes as part of the housing service’s Affordable Investment Programme.

The flats are a mix of cottage-type main door flats and close-accessed apartments contained within two four-storey blocks. The construction of the site was by Cruden Building and took place over a period of around 18 months, including a three-month break in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The design of the buildings was undertaken by Coltart Earley architects which based its approach on the traditional Glasgow tenement form and selected materials to blend in with the adjacent housing developments.

• Scottish firm PMP backs Bristol with £1m investment

A building surveying and project management firm has made a confident move to invest £1 million over the next two years in Bristol and the South West of England to meet growing demand in commercial real estate projects.

PMP has recruited a team of five to set up a new base at No 1. Berkeley Square in Bristol on a five-year lease and adds to its growing service network of four other office locations across the UK.

With a busy client roster including new instructions from Squarestone Growth, Ladbrokes and House of Fraser Exeter, the team will be led by Mat Belgrove who joins as lead director with co-directors Mark Humphries and Richard Turton, a graduate surveyor, and an office manager. 

The team will service new and existing clients in the key sectors of development including regeneration sites, business parks, hotels, public sector, and retail.  Recent work has included developments such as Bristol Business Park, 920 Aztec West and Canberra House in Swindon.

PMP has increased revenues in the last twelve months by over 30% as the company continues its ambitions to build a sustainable property consultancy serving clients across the UK.

PMP was founded in Edinburgh 27 years ago and now employs 46 staff across the UK in Edinburgh, Glasgow, London, Manchester, and Bristol.

• Councillors accept offer in principle on historical Peterhead building

Councillors have accepted in principle a purchase offer which could see a historic Peterhead building saved from demolition.

Members of Aberdeenshire Council’s Buchan area committee discussed the purchase offer for Glenugie Business Centre in private on December 1.

Although details of the offer and proposals remain commercially sensitive, the initial plans do suggest retention of the former North School, built in 1877.

Earlier this year the committee heard that despite a lengthy period of marketing and engagement with interested parties, the council had been unable to secure a purchaser for the Windmill Street and King Street properties and that, regrettably, the only viable course of action was to demolish the buildings on site in the expectation that a cleared site would be of greater market appeal.

The local authority currently has significant holding costs for the vacant properties and these costs could rise as further deterioration in the condition of the buildings occurs.

• Ambassador Living makes charity Christmas pledge to Cash for Kids

Scottish homebuilder Ambassador Living is getting into the Christmas spirit of giving by pledging an impressive cash donation to children’s charity Cash for Kids.

Ambassador Living will donate £1,000 to Cash for Kids for every house sold between now and Christmas Eve. The homebuilder has a portfolio of developments across Scotland, including the newly launched development at Forthview, South Queensferry and the coveted Park Quadrant Residences in Glasgow’s West End – which has launched its festive film showing its vision for the festive season. 

The final total will be handed over on Boxing Day, stretching out the Christmas spirit that extra bit in 2020, when support for charities is needed more than ever.

Cash for Kids supports children and young people affected by poverty, abuse, neglect, life-limiting illness and those who have additional support needs. With 22 locations across the UK, every penny raised in each area stays local.

• Gillies and Mackay support local veteran with pottery shed to help with PTSD

Shed builders Gillies and Mackay have joined forces with veteran Paul Wilkie to provide him with a pottery shed to help combat his chronic PTSD. 

Paul has suffered from chronic PTSD since leaving the Armed Forces in 2012 after a long career which saw him serve in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq. His symptoms became so severe that they caused him to lose his wife, home, and job, before ending up living rough in a forest in Perthshire. He has since settled in a lovely home in Guildtown with the first PTSD service dog in Scotland and has been advised that artistic therapy would be a positive outlet for him.

With the support of SSAFA, the Armed Forces Charity, Paul secured a grant of £900 to buy a pottery shed for his garden. He approached Gillies and Mackay who immediately saw the benefit pursuing this hobby would bring him and offered to install a shed that would normally cost £3500 for the £900 grant to give him the space he needed. 

The shed is now in situ in Paul’s garden and he has started work on both his pottery and making crooks. 

Paul joined the Royal Engineers in 1990 and worked in many units ranging from Amphibious, Combat, Bomb Disposal, Armoured, & Field Park serving in Bosnia, Kosovo and Iraq before leaving in 2012.

His PTSD service dog Irma won the ‘Most Caring Animal in the UK’ in September 2017 for helping Paul in 2016, staying by his side whilst he was in a coma after gaining sepsis from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative Colitis, two conditions that were exacerbated due to Paul’s PTSD. She wakes him up from night terrors and allows him to visit public spaces. 

• Key East Renfrewshire road set for Safer Spaces for People

A key route through East Renfrewshire is set to become a safer place for people to walk, cycle and wheel as the Spaces for People project progresses.

East Renfrewshire Council secured £1 million of Scottish Government funding for measures across the area aimed at making active travel safer for residents while maintaining social distancing.

The decision to install protective measures on the A77 creating a physical barrier between the road and cycle lane follows strong public support to safeguard the existing cycle lane on Ayr Road and Fenwick Road, making it safer and easier for people to walk, cycle and wheel during COVID-19.

Temporary measures on Ayr Road, which will get under way today, will initially involve traffic management measures and, following a trial period, will be replaced with a permanent installation. In addition, the trial will be supported by a mandatory cycle lane road marking, replacing the existing advisory markings in order to discourage parking within the lane. Along with Police Scotland, we are also exploring reducing the speed limit from 40mph to 30mph in order to improve overall road safety.

In addition to Ayr Road, work on a temporary bike and roll lane on Fenwick Road, south of Giffnock will follow later in December. This aims to create a safer route for essential journeys and exercise.

• Home Fix Scotland partner Inverclyde Community Trust to provide local employment opportunities

Repairs and maintenance contractor Home Fix Scotland has partnered with Inverclyde Community Trust to launch a new pilot scheme offering employment support to those who need it most.

The project, which began last month, will assess the viability of a new service aiming to provide close cleaning, bulk uplift and backcourt maintenance to Inverclyde residents.

Since November 23, a volunteer from the Trust has been assisting Home Fix Scotland operatives with day-to-day tasks, from tackling dirty closes, improving backcourts visual appearance, identifying fire hazards to passing on information and assisting with tenancy management.

As well as equipping them with the experience and skills necessary to thrive in the industry, senior staff at Home Fix Scotland is hopeful that the project’s success could lead to a fixed-term contract with the organisation.

Despite being in its infancy, there are already signs that this partnership is proving advantageous with fire hazards being removed on the spot, maintaining customer safety.

And yet, the volunteer is not the only one benefitting. Residents of John Street have also been reaping the rewards. As part of the environmental improvements taking place, bulk items have been removed from communal areas, damaged drain covers have been replaced and bin sets have been cleaned.