Building Briefs – February 13th

CCG (Scotland) Ltd has started work on a new sustainable housing development in Govanhill on behalf of Glasgow Housing Association (GHA).

The development will be situated on Batson Street - on the site of the former Victoria Primary School, and will consist of 45 new homes for mid-market rent.

The homes are being built on behalf of GHA and will be managed and let by GHA’s partners in Wheatley Group, Lowther Homes.

The affordable housing will comprise 8 one-bedroom flats, 32 two-bedroom flats and 5 two and three-bedroom houses. The development will also have 25 car parking spaces as well as a generous central landscaped courtyard with shared drying areas and amenities.

The new homes will be constructed using CCG’s own iQ timber frame system which is manufactured in their bespoke offsite manufacturing facility in Cambuslang.

With the addition of solar photovoltaic panels, the new homes will ensure long-term energy savings for the future residents.

Work started in January and the homes should be ready by Spring next year.

A series of job and training opportunities will be available as a direct result of this project via the Wheatley Foundation including trade apprenticeships and training programmes with CCG, work placements, academic support as well as support to local community projects and enterprises.

Dunoon town centre regeneration moves forward

Plans to regenerate Dunoon town centre took another step forward this week when improvement work began on the town’s Kirk Brae and Argyll Street.

The work is being carried out as part of the Queens Hall Refurbishment and public realm improvements. Included in the improvements are resurfaced footways; the creation of a new HGV parking and loading bay to service the Queens Hall stage area; and road resurfacing so that the new road layout all links in with the existing road layout.

Due to the extent of the work, Kirk Brae and Argyll Street will be closed for approximately five weeks.

Barratt Homes set to launch new development in Drumpellier

Barratt Homes is set to launch a new development in North Lanarkshire’s Drumpellier area of Bargeddie.

The Fairways will feature a range of three and four bedroom homes with terraced, semi-detached and detached options.

Travelodge officially opens third Inverness hotel

Budget hotel chain Travelodge will officially open its third hotel in Inverness city centre today.

Inverness City Centre Travelodge is the company’s 557th hotel and its 43rd hotel in Scotland. It represents an investment of £5 million for the landlord and has created 22 new jobs within the community.

The new 54-room hotel is the company’s first hotel in the city to feature a Bar Café and has been styled in Travelodge’s new contemporary brand design which has been influenced by business and leisure customers’ feedback.

An official opening event is being held at the hotel where the Provost of Inverness and Area, Councillor Helen Carmichael and Travelodge operations director, Nigel Mackenzie, will officially open the hotel.

At the hotel opening event, Travelodge will also announce it is looking to add another site to its Scottish Highlands portfolio of four hotels and is actively looking for a site in Aviemore.

Windmill Community Campus highly commended at flagship Building Performance Awards

Windmill Community Campus in Kirkcaldy has been highly commended by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE).

In its winners’ brochure the CIBSE judges emphasised that: “The awards focus on actual, measured performance outcomes, not just design intent or performance specifications.”

The campus, which was recognised at the CIBSE Building Performance Awards 2018, is a new type of integrated community facility that combines the former Viewforth High School, Rosslyn Assisted Special Needs School, a public library, a community sports facility and a council customer service point under the one roof.

The facility was designed by Fife Council’s Property Services in-house design team and built by BAM Construction.

New owner to demolish old Tesco warehouse in Dundee

The largest unoccupied industrial site in Dundee is being knocked down by its new owners.

Derbyshire-based property developers CWC Group has acquired the 208,000 sq ft Baird Avenue site from the administrators of Twickler Estates Limited — the owner of failed oil and gas company PressureFab.

The vast warehouse was used as a distribution centre by Tesco until the supermarket giant controversially closed the site in 2006, putting 430 staff out of work.

After lying empty for more than eight years, it was taken over by PressureFab in 2015, just over a year before the company went out of business.

The property had been marketed for sale by chartered surveyors DM Hall on behalf of the administrators KPMG for £1.25 million since November 2016.

The final sale price has not been disclosed.

Gordon Arthur, director of CVC Group, said the company was demolishing the building largely on account of the business rates costs.

Graduate Apprenticeships programme breaks new ground

A scheme which gives people the chance to study for university level qualifications while in paid full-time employment is being expanded into two new Schools at Edinburgh Napier University.

The university’s first cohort of Graduate Apprenticeships (GA) was launched in the School of Computing in May last year to help meet employers’ demands for digital skills.

Now the university is expanding its GA portfolio into the School of Engineering and the Built Environment and the Business School, with 90 new places available across all three schools from September.

Programmes have been created and developed in partnership with Skills Development Scotland with support from the European Social Fund, in order to tackle skills gaps in Scottish businesses.

Anyone over the age of 16 who lives in Scotland is eligible and there are no course fees to pay for apprentices or employers. Participants spend approximately 80% of their time in work and 20% in university, and can qualify for entry based on both academic and relevant work experience. Employers can either hire new recruits or upskill existing staff.

Gaelic media studio to undergo £500,000 refurb

Up to £500,000 is to be invested to upgrade studio facilities at Scotland’s Gaelic media service, MG ALBA.

The Seaforth Road Studio in Stornoway will be redeveloped to provide improved facilities for programming which will be used to increase training in creative digital media, learning, arts and cultural heritage.

The Gaelic Capital Funding will also allow MG ALBA, ALBA, which operates BBC ALBA in partnership with the BBC, to develop a training programme for young people with an interest in working in the media.

West Dunbartonshire libraries to receive £420,000 upgrade

More than £420,000 is to be invested in improving libraries across West Dunbartonshire.

Beginning in April, the upgrade programme will enhance children’s areas, improve the display areas, create more welcoming help desks and also introduce movable shelving, enabling flexible use of space for activities and events.

The works are intended to make the branches more welcoming/attractive environments, as well as to boost visitor numbers.

The improvements are one of a number of changes being carried out to the region’s eight libraries, with new opening hours and new hire charges for musical instruments also being introduced.