Building Briefs – January 16th

A panel of experts will put forward the case for the £500 million Owenstown development at a public hearing in South Lanarkshire next week.

The three-day hearing, before a Scottish Government reporter, will investigate the decision by South Lanarkshire Council in April last year to reject the Hometown Foundation’s application for planning permission in principle for Owenstown which had been scheduled for 400 acres of a 2,000 acre site near Rigside in the Douglas Valley.

The project was first announced more than five years ago and would create 3,200 homes and up to 10,000 jobs without the need for public funding. There would also be offices, restaurants and shops, land and buildings for industry, a hotel and a care home, as well as two new primary schools and one new secondary school. The Foundation also plan to create a new technology and innovation centre to develop new ideas to harness the potential of emerging technologies, locking in sustainable employment to the local area.

Since the plans were announced there has been significant interest from companies wanting to set up business in the town’s industrial zones. Plans for a distillery and craft brewery are already well advanced.

The town would be owned and managed on a co-operative basis by its residents and all surplus funds generated would be reinvested in the community instead of being taken out by property developers or landowners. The principle of Owenstown is based on social reformer Robert Owen’s ideas at nearby New Lanark 200 years ago.

South Lanarkshire councillors used the recommendation of planning officials to reject the proposal mainly because it was not part of the area’s Development Plan which was adopted in 2009. The Plan itself is now the subject of a consultation process and is due to be updated this Spring to take account of changing circumstances, including the economic climate, housing and employment needs.

Plans to rebuild Clutha bar

Plans to rebuild the Clutha bar, which was the scene of a tragic helicopter crash 14 months ago, are to be submitted to Glasgow City Council.

Owner Alan Crossan is working with architects in a bid to begin the re-opening of the Glasgow pub.

Ten people were killed after a Police Scotland helicopter plunged through the roof of the bar on November 29, 2013.

Mr Crossan said he hoped to open the bar in stages - and was keen to stress he did not think it was “appropriate” to open the Clutha as it was.

Among the plans for the rebuild, Mr Crossan hopes to refurbish the toilets, and install a pizza oven.

Carrick McCormack McIntyre Architects have drawn up the plans.

Flats plan for site of old social work offices

Leven’s former social work offices could be transformed into flats if a planning application is given the green light.

Dr Ali Bilgrami from Linlithgow wants to create eight homes by demolishing one of the empty buildings, on the corner of Station Road, and converting the other. The social work offices closed in 2013 and have lain unused since.

The buildings are in two blocks, linked by a modern single-storey addition.

The building facing Station Road was originally built as four large flats and, if the plans are given the go-ahead, will be converted back without any significant external alterations.

The one facing Glenlyon Road has a flat roof and has been significantly altered. It is considered unattractive and unsuitable for conversion into flats and would be demolished to make way for the new development.

Some 20 off-street car parking spaces and a communal garden are also proposed.

Revamp on the way for Perth’s historic Salutation Hotel

Scotland’s oldest hotel, which has played host to everyone from Bonnie Prince Charlie to David Bowie, could be given a facelift.

The frontage of the Salutation Hotel on Perth’s South Street has looked increasingly drab in recent years, with paint peeling from the walls and vegetation growing above the doorway.

Now it could be in line for a complete revamp, which would see windows replaced, brickwork retouched and new signs erected.

Strathmore Hotels, which runs the Salutation, have submitted several plans to Perth and Kinross Council, covering everything from listed building consent to the upgrading work.

Under the plans, the iconic figurines that stand above the entrance to the B-listed building will receive some TLC to restore them to their former glory. Once restored, they will be uplit by lamps installed at their base.

Windows on the eastern side of the hotel, which are currently non-operational sash and casement, will be matched with those on the other side of the building and new signs will be erected on both halves of the frontage.

It is possible that a structural survey will need to be carried out in order for the work to take place.

If the council approves the plans it is not clear how long they will take to implement.

Albyn teams up with Applecross tenants to measure energy use

A project which aims to help Highland tenants tackle rising energy costs is now underway following the installation of monitoring devices in eight Albyn Housing Society properties at Craite Barn, Applecross.

The project will see Albyn and project partner Community Energy Scotland use the devices to gather data on electricity usage and inside temperature at each home over the next 12 months.

As part of the project, Community Energy Scotland will provide each participating tenant with a monthly analysis, enabling them to identify opportunities to manage their energy use more effectively, and potentially make their homes warmer or less costly to heat.

It will also offer a comparison of usage trends before and after the launch of Applecross Community Company’s new renewable energy initiative - a 90kW hydro-turbine and district heating scheme set to provide heat to around 22 local properties by November 2015.

Once the project is complete, Albyn plans to share the findings and lessons learned with tenants across the region in a bid to help reduce energy wastage and tackle fuel poverty.

Planning application lodged for T in the Park Strathallan site

A planning application has been lodged with Perth and Kinross Council seeking permission to move the T in the Park festival to Strathallan Castle.

The application will give the local community an opportunity to give feedback on the proposed move.

Some residents and local politicians have spoken out against the change of location, however festival director Geoff Ellis said that many public comments had been taken into consideration in the document.

T in the Park, which attracts 85,000 revellers each year, is moving to the 1000-acre estate in Perthshire after safety fears were raised over a pipeline at Balado.

The site was chosen from more than 100 locations throughout the north of England and central Scotland.

The discovery of an osprey on the Strathallan Estate last year resulted in DF Concerts, which organises the festival, having to submit an environmental statement alongside the planning application.

A 28-day consultation period has now begun and the decision is expected in April.

Affordable homes boost for Aberdeen

Plans are in the pipeline to build new affordable homes in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.

The multi-million pound scheme to build 55 homes at East Woodcroft – 25 per cent of which will be affordable – is part of an Aberdeen City Council priority plan to boost the number of low-cost homes to rent or buy in the city.

The development, earmarked for land between the existing Ashwood estate and Scotstown Road, has been submitted as a Proposal of Application Notice by Aberdeen City Council prior to submission of the formal planning application this spring.

This will allow time for the local community to be consulted on the proposals and for comments to be carefully considered before the planning application is drawn up.

The development proposes a mix of housing for private sale at market prices, along with affordable housing, in line with council policy to help meet a range of family housing needs. The affordable element could be made up of homes for rent at mid-market rates, properties for rent at social housing levels and/or low-cost homes to buy. The mix has not yet been determined.

Nightclub owner unveils student bedsits plan to save Perth City Hall

A Perth businessman has unveiled plans that would see the City Hall used for student accommodation and “put the heart back into the building”.

John Bryden, the man behind the Ice Factory, That Bar, the Loft, the Tavern and Roca Blu envisages the main hall used for events as it was in the past — everything from concerts to banquets to boxing and fashion shows — while a radical new use of the lesser hall as student accommodation would form the “financial backbone” of his plan.

The inclusion of 26 student bedsits came to him after Perth College UHI made a plea for much-needed accommodation and he saw an opportunity to deliver a financially-viable proposal.