Building Briefs – February 17th

Springfield Properties have taken a step toward it Western Gateway plans for the outskirts of Dundee.

A planning application has been submitted for junction improvements to the Swallow Roundabout on the A90 to accommodate traffic for the new development.

The first 230-home phase was granted planning permission last year by Dundee City Council which approved one section of the application and rejected the other.

The development will include two, three, four and five bedroom homes.

Regenerating shopfronts for historic West End Street

The transformation of West Maitland Street in Edinburgh’s West End is underway through a new project to improve its shopfronts, in a joint initiative between Edinburgh World Heritage, the property owners and the City of Edinburgh Council.

The historic West End shopping street dates back to 1805, and is situated in a key location within the World Heritage Site. The street forms the main entrance to the World Heritage from the West, and also lies directly on the tram route to the city centre.

The project aims to renovate and restore up to 16 shopfronts, transforming the look and appeal of the street for shoppers and the prospects for owners. Shopfronts play a very important role in the city’s unique historic character, and their thoughtful design can make a significant improvement to the streetscape and the local economy. Traditional architectural details that are hidden or neglected can easily be revitalised, helping to define the character of a street and enhancing the shopping and pedestrian experience.

The work will largely consist of new joinery, and in some cases installing metal gates and re-painting. In places original features remain intact and only need repair to their original appearance, in others the entire frontage may need to be restored, based on surviving designs. Altogether, the project will restore the original appearance and proportions, returning the street to its unified design.

The costs of the project are estimated at around £566,000, with Edinburgh World Heritage offering a grant of up to £425,000, half of which will be repayable after 10 years or if the property is sold. The City of Edinburgh Council is also providing financial support, with the remainder of the costs being funded by the property owners themselves.

The first two renovation projects are due to start on site in the next few weeks, and it is hoped that a further three will follow in the next few months. It is aimed to complete the project by the end of 2016.

New funding will help power homes across Aberdeen

A city heating network has been awarded £1 million to help cut energy bills and provide cheap power to thousands of homes across Aberdeen.

The funding from the Scottish Government’s District Heating Loan Fund will allow Aberdeen Heat & Power Ltd to expand the network to non-domestic properties with commercial heat sales revenues ring fenced to heat households in the city.

The system already supplies around 2,000 council flats in 26 multi storey blocks, low rise sheltered housing complexes as well as 13 public buildings.

The combined heat and power scheme captures heat when electricity is created. Once channelled through underground hot water pipes and pumps, heating and hot water is pumped out to homes.

The funding takes the total awarded by the District Heating Loan Fund to £2.7m to 12 projects across Scotland.

Saracen House welcomes community focus on Forth and Clyde Canal

A design workshop planned by Scottish Canals and a range of other partners gave local people an opportunity to have their say on the regeneration of Glasgow’s Woodside, Firhill and Hamiltonhill.

The event was part of a 4 day Charrette entitled: What Floats Your Boat and involved various agencies including Glasgow City Council, NHS Scotland, ng homes.

Alongside an expert design team they endeavoured to create a new shared vision for their community - condensing activity that can often take months into just a few days.

Hosted at Firhill Stadium and Saracen House, participants and local groups were asked to air their views through a series of intensive design workshops and a complementary cultural programme featuring the work of local school children and artists.

Saracen Primary school pupils took part in a research project based on the area around the canal and presented their ideas complete with scale models of proposed bridges in a design workshop at Saracen House.

The ideas gathered during the event will form the basis of a new ‘master plan’ and follow up events will be arranged to share the details of these and how they could be delivered.

Major investment to improve key Hamilton road

Major resurfacing works costing £450,000 are set to improve Palace Grounds Road in Hamilton.

The work will be carried out between Motherwell Road and Muir Street and include resurfacing at the roundabouts at Asda and Muir Street/Mote Hill.

The first phase will begin at 8pm on Sunday 22 February and last until Friday 27 February.

South Ayrshire windfarm refusal upheld by Scottish Government

An appeal against South Ayrshire Council’s decision to refuse a planning application to construct a windfarm at Breaker Hill, south of Girvan, has been dismissed by the Scottish Government’s directorate for planning and environmental appeals.

The planning application was to construct a wind farm on Breaker Hill close to the villages of Pinwherry and Colmonell, which overlooks the picturesque Stinchar and Duisk Valleys.

The area where the proposed Breaker Hill windfarm might have been is popular with cyclists, and there are a number of excellent walking routes, including the Stinchar Valley Walks and routes to the tops of Knockdolian and Bargain Hill. There are also a number of nationally important natural heritage sites close by, as well as rare species of animals in the locality, including bats and squirrels.

In considering the appeal against the council’s decision the Scottish Government Reporter noted that South Ayrshire already has a number of windfarms that are generating “renewable energy”, and that other windfarms have recently been granted planning permission and are due to be constructed in the near future.

The Reporter also noted that South Ayrshire Council, in refusing planning permission for the breaker hill windfarm has “sought to draw a line along the A714” to make a clear division between landscapes where wind farms are now constructed and the highly scenic hills adjacent to the coast, and agrees that this is reasonable.

Restoration of ‘modernist masterpiece’ St Peter’s Seminary to begin

A major project to convert a derelict, A-listed building into a multi-million pounds arts venue, is under way in Argyll and Bute.

St Peter’s Seminary in Cardross was hailed as a “modernist masterpiece” when it was built as a training college for priests in the early 1960s.

By 1980 the number of candidates entering the priesthood had declined and the building fell into disuse.

Described by the international architecture conservation organisation Docomomo as a modern “building of world significance”, the Arts organisation NVA has taken on the massive task of restoring the site to its former glory.

The organisation has ten months left to raise the final £2m to reach the £7m total needed to refurbish the buildings but builders are due to arrive on site this week to start the first works.

In 2008, the seminary was included on the world monument funds list of 100 most endangered sites but now its future looks to have been secured.

St Peters is due to open in its new form in 2017.