Building Briefs – January 31st

CCG has started work on an £9 million hospice refurbishment project in North Lanarkshire.

The scheme at St Andrew’s Hospice involves retaining the building’s existing façade as well as transforming the internal areas to create more single bedded rooms alongside multi-occupancy rooms.

Other features will include direct garden access, with rooms for visitors to stay overnight. A separate patient entrance will also be created to provide discreet admission to the wards. The scheme will take around 15-18 months to complete.

Plans to develop former factory site in Fife

A dilapidated former Fife factory could be transformed into flats under new plans.

A planning application has been lodged with Fife Council to transform the site at 254 High Street, Leslie, into seven residential properties.

The building has been empty for several years and has fallen into a state of disrepair.

Prominently located opposite St Mary’s Church and its iconic clock tower, an earlier application had sought to form nine flats. However, this has since been revised down to seven.

Planning officers are expected to decide on the planning application in the spring.

£1m revamp plan for Edinburgh golf course

An Edinburgh golf club which is one of the world’s oldest is set to undergo a £1 million revamp.

Leaders at Bruntsfield Links Golfing Society, which dates back to 1761, want to improve to its course at Barnton.

The bunkers are to be redesigned and repositioned to reflect the distances over which today’s golfers are striking the ball.

Scottish Government approves South Lanarkshire wind farm extension

Plans to increase the size of a South Lanarkshire wind farm have been given the green light by the Scottish Government.

Hamilton based employer Banks Renewables has received permission from the Scottish Government Energy Consents and Deployment Unit (EDCU) for its Kype Muir Extension Wind Farm, located south of Strathaven.

The 15 turbine, 51MW, expansion to the Kype Muir Wind Farm will increase the total capacity of the entire 41 turbine project to 139MW, capable of powering more than approximately 80,000 homes.

The 41 turbine project is estimated to produce a local revenue of around £17.5 million over the 25 year life cycle of the wind farm. This is in addition to an expected boost to local businesses.

Under the umbrella of the Connect2Renewables Charter, which seeks to maximise the social, economic and environmental benefit of the development to the local area, the Kype Muir wind farm provides an investment opportunity that will support the local economy by creating jobs, skills and learning opportunities.

Banks Renewables has appointed Raeburn Drilling & Geotechnical Ltd of Hamilton to undertake site investigation work; the Central Scotland team of Euroforest, based in Dumfriesshire has been appointed for the forestry work and RJ McLeod of Glasgow has been for appointed to undertake the balance of plant works on site at Kype Muir.

Banks has also committed to supporting an employment and training fund, to be administered by South Lanarkshire Council that will help to develop the skills of local unemployed people in the area to help them in to work.

SSEN begins dismantling Cairngorms power line towers

Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks (SSEN) has started dismantling a 40km stretch of overhead power lines in the Cairngorms National Park.

The works will see 120 steel transmission towers removed as part of the final phase of the Beauly-Denny transmission project.

Previous works to remove 53km of overhead line from the eastern approach to the National was completed in 2012, early in the construction of the new 220km Beauly-Denny line.

New underground electricity distribution cables have now been installed to enable the removal of this further section of overhead line by replacing its role in powering local communities.

A further 10km of 132 kilovolt overhead line has been installed to replace underground cable in Perthshire. Approximately 6km of overhead line has also been removed in the vicinity of Beauly substation.

Borders hospital junction improvements making good progress

The leader of Scottish Borders Council, David Parker, and chairman of NHS Borders, John Raine, have this week welcomed an update on the progress of works that are being considered to improve the safety of the road junction at the Borders General Hospital.

Early in 2015, the two wrote to the Transport Minister with the backing of a number of the region’s MPs and MSPs to express their concern about the ongoing accident record and difficulties experienced at the junction on the A6091.

Transport Scotland, which is responsible for this section of road, commissioned Amey to carry out a feasibility study to determine whether there was a solution to help combat the difficulties being experienced by motorists at the junction.

This week, Transport Scotland confirmed in a letter that its preferred approach would be to install traffic signals at the junction and reduce the speed limit on the A6091.

At present, ongoing investigations are taking place to ensure that the signals will operate successfully and all the necessary changes to the junction and the A6091 can be accommodated.

It is anticipated that Transport Scotland will start consultation about the preferred design with stakeholders in February, with final agreement coming on the confirmed layout, and changes to be made, by the end of March.

If agreed, works would likely be carried out during 2017/18. NHS Borders will also carry out improvements to the hospital entrance alongside SBC, who will make improvements to the road near the junction to support the new scheme.

Work starts on new £5.3m Arthurlie Family Centre

Building work is underway on the new multimillion pound Arthurlie Family Centre in Barrhead.

The £5.3 million centre will be a pioneering community hub that brings together early years services under one roof and is planned to complete for late 2017 with transfer from the existing Arthurlie Family Centre taking place shortly after.

The new building will provide a modern, purpose-built facility that delivers services at the heart of the Auchenback community.

Councillors, staff and young people who will use the centre joined together at the site on Friday 27 January for a sod-cutting ceremony to mark the start of the work.

Once completed, the centre will increase the number of early years places available in the area, which will enhance the first-class integrated work the council is doing to support young children, parents and families. It has been developed as part of the council’s early years work in a partnership between Education, Health and Social Care and Environment.

The new Arthurlie Family Centre will offer 120 morning and 120 afternoon places for three to five-year-olds. In addition it will offer 50 part-time places for children aged from birth to three and provide a community space for families.

Working with children and families from a very early age, in the one centre, has a host of benefits to children’s development.

The building will also bring together front-line staff from other council services and partner organisations, such as health visitors and social workers. There will be accommodation to enable staff to work with parents while their child is learning and cared for.

Public pledge signed for responsible roadworks in Edinburgh

Transport convener councillor Lesley Hinds was today joined by utility companies in signing a public pledge for responsible management, coordination and communication of roadworks in Edinburgh.

Cllr Hinds signed the Edinburgh Road Works Ahead Agreement (ERWAA) at the City Chambers on the council’s behalf alongside representatives from SGN, CityFibre and Scottish Water.

The ERWAA has been developed by the council in consultation with all public utilities operating in Edinburgh.

Signatories are making a public commitment to ensure roadworks are carried out as smoothly, competently and responsibly as possible, with proper road management arrangements in place.

For example, road works sites must display appropriate public information boards to communicate relevant details about the works, such as updates to duration or an explanation if work is temporarily suspended.

The ERWAA also addresses the quality of road ‘reinstatements’, Health and Safety, coordination of roadworks and performance monitoring and management.

The ERWAA will be reviewed annually and updated every five years to ensure it reflects up to date practices and working methods. Any recommended amendments to the ERWAA will be agreed by all partners.