Building Briefs – January 13th

Councillors urged to approve plans for 163 homes in Dundee

Plans to build more than 150 homes on the site of two former Dundee multis have been recommended for approval.

Councillors on Dundee City Council’s development management committee will discuss a proposal to build 163 residential units on land where the Bucklemaker and Butterburn Court blocks stood in the city’s Hilltown area before being demolished in 2013.

Collective Architecture have been commissioned to design the development by Robertson Partnership Homes, on behalf of Hillcrest Housing Association and Dundee City Council.

Under the plans, the new properties would be made up of 123 flats and 40 houses of which there would be five detached houses, 35 terraced homes, 12 two storey flats and 93 flats.

Another 18 of the flats would be supported accommodation.

The development is proposed to be split into two housing areas separated by a pedestrian walkway.

A total of 150 car parking spaces are proposed within two courtyard areas as well as 10 additional spaces in front of properties and a further nine on-street spaces.

The maximum height of the flats has been reduced from seven to six storeys after the planners took into account the surroundings of the area.

And the buildings will be significantly smaller than their predecessors at Bucklemaker and Butterburn Court — which were both 22 storeys high.

The plans will be considered by councillors on Monday.

Scottish Galvanizers helps deliver £200m golf resort redevelopment

Scottish Galvanizers has helped deliver a £200 million golf resort redevelopment project in Ayrshire.

The Glasgow-firm, part of Wedge Group Galvanizing, provided its services for the Turnberry Resort scheme, which was commissioned by American president-elect Donald Trump.

Staff at Scottish Galvanizers were asked to galvanize the replacement railings, made by Morrell’s Forge Blacksmiths, for the world-famous resort.

The popular golf and holiday destination includes the Turnberry Lighthouse, which has been turned into two executive suites costing up to £7,000 per night.

Morrell’s Forge, a small family-run blacksmith near to Turnberry, made around 200 metres of new railings and balustrades for the site and asked the team at Scottish Galvanizers to hot dip galvanize the materials before they were painted and put up at the Lighthouse.

BOWL to establish operations and maintenance base in Wick

Plans have been approved to establish a new Highlands Operations and Maintenance (O&M) base as part of the £2.6 billion Beatrice Offshore Windfarm Limited (BOWL) development.

The historic Telford buildings in Wick will be redeveloped to support the construction of the major wind farm scheme. Redevelopment work is set to begin early this year.

The two buildings will be restored in line with BOWL’s £10 million investment in Wick. The O&M base will support the project during both construction and operation, employing around 90 people from Offshore Technicians to Office Administrators.

First developed by Scottish engineer Thomas Telford in 1807, the buildings have a long history of supporting marine work.

The Beatrice project involves building a 588MW 84-turbine wind farm in the Outer Moray Firth. Once completed, it is expected to generate enough power for around 450,000 homes.

Hawick wind farm application lodged

Plans have been lodged for a 12-turbine wind farm development on uplands to the south of Hawick.

Energiekontor UK had originally been looking at building 15 turbines as part of the Pines Burn project.

It has scaled down its proposals following a series of public exhibitions in the area.

The company has estimated that the development could meet the annual energy needs of more than 22,000 homes if it goes ahead.

Aarsleff appoints new operations manager for sheet piling division

Foundations contractor Aarsleff Ground Engineering has appointed Chris Pantling as operations manager for its sheet piling division.

Chris’ role will be to ensure the successful delivery of sheet piling projects around the UK, including the timely planning, safety and efficiency considerations of each project, he will also be a key point of contact for clients during the operational phase of piling works.

Chris joins Aarsleff from Balfour Beatty Ground Engineering, where he worked for ten years as contracts manager for precast piling, working on a wide portfolio of projects, such as Heathrow Airport – the longest diaphragm wall constructed in the country and ‘Project Ant’, a £7 million mega warehouse project over a 17 week period for Amazon via McLaren Construction.

Ryden attracts Doug Garden from Knight Frank

Commercial property consultancy Ryden has made a key hire in highly regarded building surveyor Doug Garden who joins the firm as a partner and head of project & building consultancy in Aberdeen.

Doug replaces Ken Macpherson who leaves after some 16 years at Ryden to join Dunecht Estates, a long standing client of the firm.

Doug joins from Knight Frank, where he headed up the building consultancy department for the last 12 years. Prior to that he worked as a director at Chesterton where he provided building consultancy services and assisted the co-directors with the transfer of the Chesterton business in Aberdeen to Knight Frank in 2004.

He has an impressive track record in the design and project management of prominent new-build commercial properties in Aberdeen, and is also currently leading a team monitoring the £50 million Peterhead Port Authority inner harbour redevelopment project. Doug has also advised on a number of significant dilapidations claims in the city and has built up an enviable level of experience in this field.

New James Frew apprentices are top of the class

Ayrshire building services company James Frew has welcomed the latest intake of apprentices to the business.

The four youngsters, from Glasgow and Falkirk, have been selected to take part in the company’s four year apprenticeship programme to become qualified gas engineers. During their training they will also attend weekly classes at the City of Glasgow College.

James Frew, which is based in Stevenston, has been running an apprenticeship programme for over 40 years. The company currently employs 275 staff of which 60 have taken part in the apprenticeship programme.

The new recruits will join the company’s existing 17 apprentices and five pre-apprentice trainees who are all at various stages of the programme. They include Cameron MacMillan, 18, from Milnbank, Glasgow; Ross Lorentson, 19 from Falkirk; Derek Ralston, 18 from Bridgeton, Glasgow; and Lee Smith, 17, from Cardonald, Glasgow.

Councillors welcome 95 affordable homes in Aberdeenshire

Aberdeenshire Council’s new build housing programme took a step forward yesterday as councillors welcomed 95 more new affordable homes across the region.

A report presented to the local authority’s social work and housing committee detailed plans for phase 6 of the initiative which is part of a £40 million Scottish Government scheme.

Under the plans, which will run through 2018, 38 homes will be created in Peterhead, 12 will be built in Turriff and six will be constructed in Fraserburgh.

Director of infrastructure services Stephen Archer revealed new homes would also be built in Huntly, Oldmeldrum and Portlethen to bring the authority’s target to 95.

Work is expected to begin on the sites from next month.

In Peterhead, the proposed homes will be built in Clerkhill, where 210 houses have been given planning permission.

£235,000 cycle way investment connects Glasgow communities

£235,000 of investment is connecting North Glasgow communities with the city centre, via the Forth & Clyde Canal and a new cycle route.

Scottish Canals and its partners at Sustrans and Glasgow City Council have worked to create a new cycle way along Baird’s Brae, connecting Applecross Basin on the north side of the Forth & Clyde Canal with Garscube Road and Glasgow city centre.

Upgraded as part of a wider project – currently at £1.3m – to improve the towpaths of Scotland’s canals, the route provides safe, off-road travel for walkers and cyclists of any age or ability, with additional lighting and signage due to be completed in 2017.

CGC launches afternoon tea to help housing providers treat senior citizens

City Gate Construction (CGC) has launched its afternoon tea initiative to help housing providers treat their senior citizen tenants.

‘Afternoon Tea with CGC’ is designed to provide a financial helping hand to housing associations and housing co-operatives.

The aim is to encourage them to host afternoon tea events as a way of valuing senior citizen tenants and to fight loneliness and isolation in communities.

Paisley-based CGC is a large construction company which is well known in the industry for its social justice credentials.

It firmly believes profitable businesses like CGC must give something back to communities to tackle poverty, unemployment and support regeneration activities.

Now housing providers are being invited to apply for £200 each to fund afternoon tea sessions after one of Scotland’s leading housing providers held a hugely-successful afternoon tea.

Thenue Housing in Glasgow organised the well attended afternoon tea session for its senior tenants last autumn – prompting CGC to follow Thenue’s brilliant idea.

Thenue also used the occasion to gain a deeper understanding of its senior tenants as it develops its “older person’s strategy” and it was given an overwhelming thumbs up by those attending.

In light of this and as a thank you for blazing the trail, Thenue is to be exempted from the application process and given £200 for its next afternoon tea event while a further six grants of £200 will be awarded to others whose applications are successful.

CGC will even send the winners ‘pop-up’ brightly coloured cardboard cake stands to make sure the events have an authentic afternoon tea feel.

What CGC is now asking housing providers to do is to email or write to CGC telling the firm their plan for afternoon tea. It doesn’t need to be long – just an outline of how it is intended to make it a success.

Then email it over to afternoontea@citygateglobe.com or if preferred send it by post to ‘Afternoon Tea with CGC’, City Gate Construction Ltd, 24 MacDowall Street, Paisley PA3 2NB. This email address can also be used if there are any questions. CGC will then select the best ones as winners.

Closing date for applications is Tuesday January 31. The rules of the competition can be found on the news page of the CGC website.