Building Briefs – July 15th

A project by Hillcrest Housing Association has been announced as one of Inside Housing’s Top 60 developments.

An expert panel of judges shortlisted entries to the awards down to the Top 60 schemes across ten different categories.

Hillcrest’s Oaklands development in Edinburgh has been shortlisted to the final eight in the Affordable Housing Development of the Year category.

The awards ceremony to announce the winners will take place at the start of October.

V&A taking shape ‘on time and on budget’

The construction of Dundee’s V&A museum is progressing “on time and on budget”, it has been confirmed.

Dundee City Council leader Ken Guild praised the contractors and sub-contractors working on the building, which is beginning to take shape.

The building’s external walls are currently being supported by yellow and red frames, which will be removed in due course. Further steelwork is due to arrive on site in August.

A report that went before the council’s policy resources committee explained that so far, the expenditure on the construction is “slightly lower than the proposed spend at month 15 of the project”.

In addition, £5 million worth of Libor fines has been contributed to the museum project.

Progress has also been made with the proposed Growth Accelerated Fund including the requested £12.61m towards the construction costs.

Glenmuckloch opencast mine hydro energy scheme supported

Dumfries and Galloway Council has given its support to a hydro energy scheme as part of the redevelopment of an opencast coal mine site.

The pumped storage hydro (PSH) scheme would be constructed at Glenmuckloch near Kirkconnel.

The final decision on the 400MW scheme - led by Buccleuch Estates and 2020 Renewables - will be made by the Scottish Government.

However, the local authority has fully endorsed the project.

It has been claimed that the system could generate power for more than a century.

The developers have said the construction phase of up to six years will support many jobs and generate tens of millions of pounds for the local economy.

Brickworks regeneration project abandoned by developers

A new community on the site of a former brickworks outside Falkirk has been abandoned by developers.

The project to build 200 homes at the site of the Manuel Works, to the east of Whitecross, had outline planning permission from Falkirk Council.

The brickworks closed in 2001 and the area is designated an Initiative for Residential Regeneration (SIRR).

Developers for the project have now withdrawn the full application.

The project was intended to form part of the nearby Whitecross village, which has a population of around 740, and be surrounded by woodland.

Planners behind the development said it would boost the local economy and improve the quality of life of the people of Whitecross.

As well as the homes, the plans would have included a new school, employment land, community facilities, open spaces and footpaths.

BAM Nuttall completes West Lothian railway bridge upgrade

BAM Nuttall has completed a £1.5 million railway bridge upgrade project in West Lothian.

Network Rail and its contractor carried out work on the scheme at Brucefield Park West rail bridge in Livingston as part of the Shotts Line electrification programme.

The bridge is the tenth structure out of 19 that will be rebuilt ahead of the electrification of the line in 2019.

Engineers demolished and rebuilt the structure, using 33 lifts and a 750-tonne crane to lift materials into place. The project also involved excavating 9,000 tonnes of material and using 600 tonnes of concrete to develop the new bridge.

A shallower but stronger bridge deck has been installed to avoid impacting on the height of the carriageway, with higher parapets also put into place to comply with safety legislation on structures over an electrified railway.

McL&H achieves silver Resource Efficient Scotland certificate

McLaughlin & Harvey’s Scottish office has achieved its Resource Efficient Scotland Pledge six months ahead of schedule in order to achieve Silver certification.

The Pledge is a nationwide scheme backed by the Scottish Government to help Scottish Businesses use energy, water and raw materials more efficiently. The Pledge has four levels and ranges from Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum.

By using existing good practice, McLaughlin & Harvey achieved Bronze in December 2015, and has now been accepted for Silver level. The firm intends to go on to pledge for the Gold level certification in due course.

Report highlights electrical safety risks to older Scots

An MSP is helping leading safety charity Electrical Safety First to raise awareness of the dangers of electricity to Scotland’s ageing population.

Although older people in Scotland aged 60 plus make up 18 per cent of the population, they account for 37 per cent of the casualties and fatalities involving electricity. And with the vast majority of fires in Scottish homes caused by electricity, as well as the country’s ageing population, the charity said it is a problem that needs to be urgently addressed.

Clare Adamson MSP for Motherwell and Wishaw has put forward a Motion in Holyrood to highlight a report – Age Safe Scotland: Electrical Safety in an Ageing Society – produced by the charity.

The report – which has been distributed to all MSPs – shows that older people tend to be owner-occupiers (72 per cent), often living in homes lacking important electrical safety features. Critically, Scotland’s quality standards for social housing and the private rented sector don’t apply to people who live in, and own, their home.

The charity’s report makes a series of recommendations to the Scottish Government, including a call for free, five yearly electrical safety checks for all households with one person of pensionable age. It has also recommended mandatory checks in the social housing and care sectors and argued for the installation of Residual current devices (RCDs) - which rapidly cuts the current to reduce the risk of electric shock – in all PRS homes.