Building Briefs – July 15th

Argyll Community Housing Association to build new village homes

Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) has started work on two 3-bedroom family homes for rent in the village of Tayvallich in Mid Argyll.

The funding for the development has come from the Scottish Government, ACHA and Argyll and Bute Council.

The Association has two family homes already in the village and this development will double that provision.

The construction work is being carried out by Lochgilphead-based construction firm M&K MacLeod.

The two properties are due to be completed in July 2016.

GRAHAM Interior Fit-Out secures second Primark contract

GRAHAM Interior Fit-Out has been appointed to a project for Primark at Fort Kinnaird, Edinburgh, following on from the successful delivery of Primark Wakefield.

This will be Primark’s first out-of-town store in Scotland and is part of the high street giants’ multi store strategy for Edinburgh.

Fort Kinnaird is the second highest ranked retail & leisure destination in the Edinburgh area after the city centre (CACI).

It is the UK’s second largest shopping park with over 500,000 sq ft of open A1 retail & leisure and the park has an estimated 12 million annual visitors.

The multi million pound project involves the complete fit out of 39,500 sq.ft unit. GRAHAM Interior Fit-Out commences works on site in August and will remain onsite for 14 weeks allowing for a successful handover in time for Primark to open their new store ahead of the busy Christmas period.

A9 Roadshow reaches Pitlochry & Killiecrankie

Locals and road users in the Pitlochry and Killiecrankie area will have a chance to see and comment on initial design work for the Scottish Government’s A9 Dualling programme.

The exhibition is being held in Pitlochry to put on show material for the A9 Pitlochry to Killiecrankie project. This is the latest in a series of exhibitions taking place across Perthshire which have covered over 24 of the 80 miles of the A9 Dualling programme.

To date, over 320 people have attended these popular events which have so far shown material for the Tay Crossing to Ballinluig, Killiecrankie to Pitagowan, Pitagowan to Glen Garry, and Glen Garry to Dalwhinnie projects.

Falkirk to spend £1m on council housing improvements

Almost £1 million will be spent on upgrading works to 83 council houses across Falkirk.

The work is expected to get underway over the summer and will involve replacing rendering and roofing at 36 properties in Bo’ness, 27 in Polmont and 20 Maddiston.

Works carried out to these properties is in accordance with Falkirk Council’s Housing Asset Management Plan and was informed by the Stock Condition Survey results. The works will make sure the properties continue to meet the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS). Cavities will be filled and lofts will be topped-up with insulation where required to ensure all properties meet the new Energy Efficiency Standards for Social Housing (EESSH).

All council properties within the scope of the SHQS currently meet the required standard.

The council has an £85.7m Housing Investment Programme over the next three years with a range of improvement works planned and schemes to increase housing stock in place.

Average house prices ‘up by more than 10 per cent’

Scottish house prices are up by more than 10 per cent since last year, according to a new report.

The average cost of a home in May was £180,892 following a 10.3 per cent increase on the same month in 2014 — twice the annual growth seen in England and Wales.

But that was down 2.1 per cent on April’s figure — the largest decrease experienced for nearly six years in the house price index from Your Move/Acadata.

Report authors said the impact of the land and buildings transaction tax (LBTT) brought in on April 1 is “still reverberating” around the property market.

They also said political changes during the month brought about by the general election outcome resulted in uncertainty for buyers and sellers.

The number of homes sold in May was also down 10 per cent on the previous month and 4 per cent lower than last year.

The report showed a 15.2 per cent annual increase in Glasgow, taking the average home price there to £146,286 — a new record.

Edinburgh remains the most expensive local authority area, with the average home in the capital costing £266,281.

Scottish Water completes East Dunbartonshire flooding project

Scottish Water has announced the completion of a flooding project in East Dunbartonshire.

The works involved improving the water infrastructure and solving a flooding problem that had affected two properties in Torrance.

Contractors working for Scottish Water finished the £420,000 project to install a new sewer and develop eight manholes with a screen chamber along Park Crescent and into Woodmill Park.

The work by Amey and Black & Veatch has improved the local network and tackled flooding issues.

The project took almost five months to complete.

To enable Scottish Water to progress with the improvement work, some traffic management was required in Park Crescent for the duration of the project and footpaths in Woodmill Park were affected.

Second phase of Livingston roadworks

West Lothian Council has announced the second phase of roadworks in the centre of Livingston.

Refurbishment and resurfacing works will be carried out on 20 July to the Hospital Interchange Bridge on Alderstone Road

The road will be closed from its junction with Peel Roundabout to its junction with Howden Road West.