Building Briefs – February 13th

Digital archive for UK’s past and present tower blocks

Images of every tower block built in the UK are to be catalogued in a fully searchable digital archive.

A team at Edinburgh College of Art (ECA) have set out to create a photo archive of every multi-storey public housing project to record a significant part of Britain’s heritage.

Social and architectural historians will work together to produce an accessible catalogue of 3,500 images taken in the 1980s.

Tower Blocks – Our Blocks! will include images of towers which have been demolished over the past 30 years, as well as those which are still standing.

The three-year project is to receive a £52,900 grant of Heritage Lottery funding should be ready by late 2017.

Barr + Wray Group sees profits shrink by a third

SPA and swimming pool company Barr + Wray Group has recorded a 32 per cent fall in profits after experiencing setbacks in Dubai.

Accounts for the Glasgow-based company filed at Companies House show the firm made £916,471 in pre-tax profit in the year to September compared with £1,353,324 in the preceding year.

Led by managing director Alister MacDonald, the company had £14,081,557 total sales, down 18 per cent on the preceding year.

Hopes still high for a new Clydebank Health Centre

West Dunbartonshire Council has received positive news that the Scottish Government is urgently looking at ways to progress the proposed new Clydebank Health Centre.

Earlier this year, NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde agreed to use its available funding to progress the Greenock Health Centre at the expense of the Clydebank option.

The council made representations to the Scottish Government regarding the benefits the new Health Centre would bring to the local area, and how it was a crucial part of the Queens Quay site regeneration of Clydebank.

In response, the council has now received an update from Shona Robison, MSP, the cabinet secretary for health and wellbeing, advising that the Scottish Government “recognises the benefits of the proposal for a new Clydebank Health and Care Centre which would take forward the integration of the health and social care agenda, while at the same time generating economic regeneration in the area”.

Phase two of Arnotts work a ‘massive boost’ for Paisley

The next stage of a landmark development on Paisley’s iconic Arnotts site has been hailed as ‘the latest leap forward’ in the ongoing transformation of the town centre.

Work has now started to turn the distinctive listed frontage of the former store on Gauze Street into 11 luxury apartments, with retail units on the ground floor.

This marks phase two of a two-part plan, spearheaded by Renfrewshire Council, to bring the historic site back into use.

Phase one takes in the 31 flats currently being built by Link Group on Lawn Street and Gauze Street for shared equity or rent, due for completion in the spring.

The Arnotts site is owned and marketed by a limited liability partnership made up of Renfrewshire Council and Park Lane Developments.

And Renfrewshire Council leader Mark Macmillan believes the start of work elsewhere on the site is the latest positive piece in the town centre jigsaw.

Maintenance work to take place on Kincardine Bridge

Drivers using the Kincardine Bridge face disruption later this month as major maintenance work begins for a period of six weeks.

Repairs to the road surface and bridge deck will start on Friday 27th February and last until 11th April, with three weeks of work being carried out southbound before a further three weeks northbound.

Maintenance firm Amey say that while the A985 will remain open during the works with single lane working controlled by temporary traffic lights at either end of the bridge’s swingspan, it is “likely there will be some traffic disruption, particularly at peak times” with a maximum delay of up to 15 minutes anticipated.

Carnoustie housing plan challenged

A legal challenge to December’s approval for a major housing and business plan at Pitskelly Farm on the edge of Carnoustie has been lodged with the Court of Session.

The greenfield scheme was one of four major applications considered at an Angus Council meeting on December 18.

Councillors voted 13-8 to go against the refusal recommendation of officials and approve the DJ Laing/K&D Henderson scheme.

Opponents argued that the bid breached council policy and would use up prime agricultural land but the plan was described as a “no brainer” by Councillor Brian Boyd in terms of the opportunities it would offer.

A judicial review is now being sought by Angus Estates which, with Muir Homes, has consent for a business park at Carlogie on the opposite side of the town.

Retirement apartment plans for Fife’s Lundin Links

Proposals for the transformation of the former Lundin Links Hotel in Fife have been unveiled to the public.

New owners at the famous ‘C’ listed three-storey and attic property plan a quality ‘boutique’ retirement development.

Kinross company Kapital Residential Ltd bought the hotel in October last year for an undisclosed sum, nine months after it ceased trading with the loss of seven jobs.

At that time, outline planning consent was in place for retirement apartments, and Kapital Residential is pursuing this project – with hopes of repeating it across the country.

It is hoped that the development will begin later this year, with completion in 2016.