Building Briefs – January 7th

West Dunbartonshire Council has revealed plans to develop a lighting scheme for a historic bridge in the region.

A design for 16,000 LED street lights on the Dumbarton Bridge which spans the River Leven has already been developed.

The council is now seeking approvals to go ahead with the project from Historic Scotland and it’s planning team, with the scheme due to be in place during 2016.

MacLean Electrical has been the main supplier of the energy efficient street lights since the programme began in 2014.

It is now offering to work in partnership with Philips Lighting to install a lighting system for the bridge structure.

Abergeldie Castle saved from collapse

A castle that threatened to topple into a swollen river looks set to be saved.

The 16th-century Abergeldie Castle on the banks of the Dee in Aberdeenshire has been left perilously close to the water after severe weather saw land bordering the property swept away.

Structural engineers have been assessing the A-listed tower house and believe it is no longer at imminent risk.

Owner Baron Abergeldie, 76-year-old John Gordon, and his wife decided to vacate their 450-year-old home when a wall in the garden was ripped away by the torrent.

The four-floor castle is located by Crathie, which neighbours the Queen’s Balmoral residence.

Royal Deeside has experienced some of its worst flooding in years following the battering by Storm Frank, with the town of Ballater among those that were particularly badly hit.

Councillors asked to approve contract to provide 120 new Dundee homes

Up to 120 new homes on the site of former multi storey blocks in Dundee could come a step closer next week.

Councillors will be asked to approve a contract under the Scape Framework that will sub contract the redevelopment at Derby Street to Robertson Group.

According to a report to be considered by the housing committee on Monday, the advantages of using the Scape Framework include using Robertson Construction Group’s expertise during the design process which helps with cost certainty and value for money, a commitment to maximising use of local sub-contractors and a pledge to deliver other community benefits.

The design and layout of new areas of housing and open space will ensure that the communities will be sustainable, inclusive and well connected socially as well as physically with neighbouring parts of the city.

Regeneration of deprived communities given £56m boost

Disadvantaged communities across Scotland will benefit from more than £56 million of additional investment in regeneration projects from the Scottish Government bringing the total to more than £428m since 2007.

The latest funding announced in December’s budget, will be available in the new financial year to help attract private investment and create jobs in disadvantaged areas.

AWPR rail bridge delivery progress

Beams which will form the new bridge over the Aberdeen to Inverness railway line will be getting delivered in the coming days.

A new bridge which will carry the AWPR/B-T over the Aberdeen to Inverness railway line will take a major step forward later this week when twenty-eight 20m long beams are delivered to Dyce.

The beams will be delivered using 14 wide load vehicles, which will carry two beams per truck, between Saturday 9 January and Tuesday 12 January 2016.

The trucks will travel north on the A90 and take the turn off for the A956, passing Loirston Loch.

They will then travel north on the West Tullos Road before turning right over the River Dee and then left along Riverside Drive. They turn left onto Holburn Street before turning right at the Garthdee roundabout and heading over Anderson Drive to the Haudagain Roundabout.

The trucks will turn left at the Haudagain and travel along the A96, Inverurie Road until they reach the Airport roundabout, where they turn right onto Dyce Drive.

The beams will be held at the observation area overlooking the runway at the north end of Dyce Drive until they are ready to be transferred onto the construction site. The observation area will be closed to traffic between Saturday 9 January until Friday 15 January.

The deliveries will be transported during daylight for safety reasons, between 9.30am and 3.30pm each day.

Scottish Water to begin £500,000 Shetland improvement project

Scottish Water is to carry out a £500,000 water modernising project in the Shetland Isles.

The investment involves introducing an additional process to the Isle of Fetlar’s water treatment, known as chloramination.

The process eliminates the need for additional chlorine to be added to drinking water along the network of supply pipes after it has been treated.

Site preparatory works are due to begin this week.

The scheme is part of Scottish Water’s plans to invest £42.4 million in Shetland between 2015 and 2021.

Contractor to begin £1m High Street upgrade in Fife

Approximately £1 million is to be spent on improving the high street of a town in Fife.

Contractor Land Engineering is currently on site and beginning preparatory works at the High Street in Kirkcaldy.

Work to begin redeveloping the west end of the street will begin on Monday, 11 January.

The £1m project will improve footpaths, parking areas, the road surface, street lighting, street furniture.

The High Street improvement programme began in 2007 and is being delivered in three phases. It has so far cost £4.4m.

Resurfacing works to take place in South Lanarkshire

Road resurfacing works are to take place in South Lanarkshire this weekend.

Almost £127,000 is to be invested in upgrading the A725/A726 between the Murray and Whitemoss roundabouts.

Scotland TranServ will carry out the works on behalf of Transport Scotland.

The eastbound carriageway will close from 6am on Saturday, 09 January until 6am on Monday 11 January to allow the works to be carried out.

Signed diversions and advanced warning signs will be in place

East Dunbartonshire Council invites public to community facility drop-in event

East Dunbartonshire Council is inviting residents to attend a drop-in event over plans to develop a new community facility in the region.

Representatives from the council and the architect will be at the meeting to discuss details of the proposed purpose-built development in Auchinairn.

The public is being asked what they would like to see in the new facility, with plans already in place to develop an Early Years service within the building.

In addition, the potential to build a new sports facility alongside the project is also being explored.

The event will take place on between 4pm – 7pm in Auchinairn Primary School on Thursday, 21 January.

A further meeting will take place at a later date where the architect’s designs can be viewed and a more detailed discussion can take place.

Former RBS Glasgow branch to be turned into not-for-profit law office

A former bank in Glasgow is to be turned into a not-for-profit law office by its new owner to fill a gap left by ongoing legal aid cuts.

Solicitor Graham Walker, a road traffic law specialist, is to renovate the former Royal Bank of Scotland building on the city’s Shettleston Road – part of an old tenement building – which he bought at auction for £75,000.

Mr Walker, who already has an office in the city’s Maryhill Road, told the Herald newspaper: “I noticed that the bank was due to come up for auction and in between trials I ran over to the Trades Hall in Glasgow to bid on my very own bank.

“It wasn’t until afterwards that I thought ‘what have I done’. I hadn’t even told my wife I was thinking about it!”

The project could also feature on the TV programme Homes Under the Hammer later this year if logistics permit.

SSE plan to add 16 turbines to Sutherland wind farm

Energy giant SSE has sought permission to add 16 more turbines to its Gordonbush Wind Farm near Brora in Sutherland.

Thirty-five turbines already on the site, which was built at a cost of more than £100 million, have been operational since June 2012.

Thirteen of the new turbines would be up to 426ft (130m) in height and the other three 377ft (115m).

They would be taller than the existing 360ft (110m) turbines.

Highland Council’s north planning applications committee will be asked to consider the proposal on 12 January.

Planning officers have recommended that councillors raise no objection, subject to several amendments including the removal of one of the planned turbines and reducing the height of another to 377ft.

The Scottish Wildlife Trust and John Muir Trust have objected to the extension. They say the project would affect blanket bog and wild land.