Building Briefs – February 18th

Keppie Design and Hoskins Architects have opened the doors to a £15 million health centre in Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

The 7,000sqm project is the first of three health and care centres to be designed for the Northern Social Care Trust.

The new building is designed around a welcoming, three storey entrance atrium, stepping down to a two story block formed around an external courtyard space. The atrium and courtyard create a highly legible layout, providing clear user wayfinding and orientation, while maximising opportunities for natural ventilation and daylight.

Lead architect Keppie, in collaboration with Hoskins Architects, spent considerable time with the various departments and operational and facilities user groups, to ensure that the clinical adjacencies, patient journeys and materiality have been configured to form a clear, cohesive and calming building, from a hitherto disparate range of accommodation and services.

Work starts on £2.2m North Lanarkshire bus station upgrade

Work is underway to improve bus facilities in Cumbernauld.

Doig and Smith and Kier Construction have been commissioned to develop the proposals and produce an outline design for the scheme.

The £2.2 million project is being delivered by hub South West Scotland.

In addition, North Lanarkshire Council is working in partnership with Campsies Centre (Cumbernauld) Ltd, Strathclyde Partnership for Transport (SPT) and Cumbernauld Shopping Centre.

The first stage of the project, which involves site investigations and initial design work, is expected to take three months and cost £49,500.

Work is expected to start on site by January 2017.

Work begins on Benarty’s new skate park and multi-use games area

Work has started on the construction of a new skate park and multi-use games area (MUGA) in Benarty.

The new sports facility will be built between the Benarty Centre and Benarty Primary School.

The £269,000 project is being funded by the Legacy 2014 Active Places Fund, Fife Council’s Cowdenbeath area local community planning budget, Fife Environment Trust and the Benarty Management Committee.

Work is due to be completed in spring.

Brechin pupils’ first day at new £26.5m school campus

Delighted youngsters in Brechin have celebrated after taking their first steps in their new school building.

Children and staff entered Brechin Community Campus on Wednesday, February 17, following phase one completion of the new £26.5 million site, which replaces Brechin High School.

Pupils began their school day by receiving a tour of the building, which has been developed by Angus Council in partnership with hub East Central Scotland, with construction led by Robertson Tayside.

The new campus includes enhanced community leisure facilities, a performance space and accommodation for adult learning and youth activities.

The second phase of the project will involve the demolition of the old school building, provision of new car parking and a synthetic sports pitch.

The campus is due to be completed in October 2016.

Revamp underway at West Lothian school

Work has started on a £1.1 million project to revamp Blackridge Primary School.

The investment will deliver a brand new games hall for the school, complete with modern changing facilities.

Access to the school will be greatly improved with a new main entrance way and reception area, with internal alterations to allow disabled access between the various levels within the existing school.

UK social landlords spend £3bn a year on responsive repairs

Social landlord expenditure on responsive repairs was worth £3 billion to the UK economy in 2014/15, data analysis published by HouseMark has estimated.

Using its detailed breakdown of costs, the data provider found that around 77 per cent of social landlords’ responsive repairs expenditure pays for service provision (eg labour and materials) and 23 per cent pays for management of the service.

Around half the landlords participating in the benchmarking exercise use in-house repair teams (DLOs). In 2014/15, the ratio of management staff at these organisations was 1.9 WTEs per 1,000 properties. Those who contract out service provision directly employed 2.1 management staff per 1,000 properties.

Social housing tenants report, on average, three or four repairs a year – and have done so for at least the last five years. This equates to around 18m repairs across the UK, each year. Comparing this to costs, HouseMark found that real expenditure on responsive repairs reduced by around 4.5 per cent over the same period.

According to the analysis, responsive repairs costs differ considerably by location. In 2014/15 average repair costs in London (£171) were around 50 per cent higher at the median than those in the East Midlands (£115) and the North West (£116). The average cost of a responsive repair in Scotland was £121.

Across the country, HouseMark found that more than eight in ten tenants were satisfied with their landlord’s repair service. This figure has changed little in the last five years. While satisfaction cannot be linked to expenditure, there are some correlations between satisfaction and performance measures such as keeping appointments with tenants and completing the repair at the first visit.

Scottish landlords’ repairs satisfaction rates were the highest in the UK in 2014/15. Measured using HouseMark’s Star methodology, the median rate of tenants’ satisfaction with their landlord’s repairs service was 86.2 per cent in Scotland. This compares to 83.3 per cent to 86.0 per cent across the north of England, and 69.0 per cent in London.

Tenants ‘in heaven’ thanks to Glasgow church site homes

An affordable housing development with an adjoining church has been described as ‘divine’ by its new residents.

Tenants at Sanctuary Scotland Housing Association’s recently completed the block of 24 flats in Glasgow for people aged 55-plus can see the light from the £2.7 million project’s two roof gardens and through its large external windows.

Anniesland Methodist Church gave Sanctuary Scotland the Sutcliffe Road site in return for a new hall on the ground floor.

The old church building was demolished and replaced with a modern, community-friendly facility. Tenants live in flats over five floors above the new church hall.

The solar-powered communal hot water system shared by the one and two bedroom homes is environmentally friendly and reduces fuel costs.

Sanctuary Scotland built the block in partnership with Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Government, thanks in part to a £1.2 million grant.

Midlothian water pipe diversion works to begin

Work is due to begin on a water pipe diversion project in Midlothian, Scottish Water has announced.

Plans are in place to build a roundabout to serve a new housing development in Penicuik.

However, before works can begin, Scottish Water will need to divert piping at the Mauricewood Road junction with the A702.

The first stage of work involves the installation of crash barriers and will begin today.

The second stage will see a new pipe laid while the third involves removing the crash barriers.

Each works period is expected to last around a week.

Borders community groups encouraged to apply to council small grant scheme

Scottish Borders Council is encouraging local communities from across the region to apply to its community grant scheme.

The scheme is open to all constituted community groups across the Borders and provides grants of up to £5,000 to support projects which:

In some circumstances, support is available to groups who are experiencing financial difficulty. Advice is also available on the many other grants that are available, both large and small, across Scotland.

To download an application form and find out more about the scheme, visit www.scotborders.gov.uk/communitygrants.