Building Briefs – July 24th

Call for investors at Aberdeen student development

Investors are being given an opportunity to back one of the last remaining student accommodation developments next to the Aberdeen University campus in King Street.

West Coast Estates’ flagship 500 King Street scheme is designed to deliver a broad mix of prime student accommodation and will appeal to a range of students from undergraduates to international post-graduates.

The development will feature accommodation for up to 100 students, a gym, cinema, communal lounge, retail and even a secret garden. It received full planning permission in March 2017 with construction expected to be completed before the start of the 2018/2019 academic year.

Amey wins East Renfrewshire street light maintenance contract

Amey has won a new contract worth over £2 million to upgrade, maintain and repair street lights for East Renfrewshire Council.

The four-year deal will see the company provide maintenance, repair and replacement services for the council’s 15,000 street lights, 1,000 illuminated signs and traffic bollards, as well as a 24-hour emergency cover for any incidents on the road network.

Since August 2012, Amey has managed the street lighting service in East Renfrewshire.

The new contract builds on the previous deal by continuing work to replace street lights with new LED lanterns, which are more efficient and cost effective. Work involves sophisticated civil infrastructure to upgrade existing cable networks.

Commercial LBTT revenue tumbles by a third

Revenue Scotland has released data showing that commercial revenue from the Scottish Land and Buildings Transaction Tax (LBTT) fell 31% in June compared to the same month in 2016.

Revenues from the commercial element of the tax totalled £11.2 million last month, significantly down from £16.3m last year.

The figures, analysed by the Scottish Property Federation, point to the continued slowing of the commercial property market in Scotland.

In the first 6 months of 2016 (Jan-Jun), the Scottish Government raised over £100m from commercial LBTT returns, however, the same period in 2017 has seen revenue of only £85m. It was hoped that 2017 would see the commercial property market in Scotland recover after it the total value of sales contracted by 13% in 2016.

Andrew Sutherland, vice chair of the Scottish Property Federation and joint managing director of Miller Developments, said: “A strong and healthy commercial property market not only contributes to government coffers via LBTT, but also provides Scotland with high quality jobs and economic growth.

“Today’s figures are worrying and serve to reinforce our calls for the Scottish Government to do more to support the property industry and the wider Scottish economy.

“Scotland needs to remain positive and open for business in order to secure appropriate new investment and development. Uncertainty and low economic growth prevents the commercial market in Scotland achieving its full potential.”

Dumfries and Galloway Council secures £1.4m from Strategic Timber Transport Fund

Dumfries and Galloway Council has secured £1.4 million from the Strategic Timber Transport Fund.

The council will use the funding to carry out 10 road improvement schemes across the region.

In addition, the local authority is co-funding each project with £800,000, taking the total scheme value to £2.2m.

Details of the projects are as follows:

Blustery June helps set new wind power record

The first half of 2017 proved to be great for wind power in Scotland following a record month in June.

Analysis by WWF Scotland of data provided by WeatherEnergy found that for the month of June wind turbines alone provided around 1,039,001MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough to supply, on average, the electrical needs equivalent to 118% of Scottish households. That’s enough for nearly 3 million homes.

Wind turbines generated enough power to supply more than all of Scotland’s overall national demand for 6 days.

When looking at the data for the first six months of 2017, wind turbines provided an extraordinary 6,634,585MWh of electricity to the National Grid, enough to supply, on average, the electrical needs equivalent to 124% of Scottish households, or just over 3 million homes - this represents an increase of 24% compared to that of 2015, the previous record breaking first six months, when wind energy provided 5,359,995MWh.

Scotland’s total electricity consumption (i.e. including homes, business and industry) for first six months was11,689,385MWh. Wind power therefore generated the equivalent of 57% of Scotland’s entire electricity needs.

Evening closure for Galashiels road resurfacing works

Essential resurfacing improvements mean a Galashiels road will be closed next month.

Abbotsford Road, which forms part of the A7, will be resurfaced in two phases from Sunday 13 to Saturday 26 August.

The first phase will see Abbotsford Road closed from Church Street to Douglas Place junctions from 13 to 18 August, from 6pm to 2am each night.

During this phase of the closure, parking will be prohibited on Croft Street, Douglas Place, Hill Street and Tweed Road from 5.30pm to 2am to allow traffic to use these roads as a diversion route.

Northbound traffic will be diverted via Tweed Road, Winston Road, Melrose Road, Currie Road, George Craig Bridge and Braw Lads Brae.

Southbound traffic during the closure will travel via Braw Lads Brae, Huddersfield Street, Hill Street, Croft Street and Douglas Place.

Phase two will see Abbotsford Road shut from Douglas Place to Hayward Drive junctions from 19 to 26 August from 6pm to 2am each night, with an alternative route via A7, A708, A707 and A72.

Phase two will also see a small section of Tweed Road closed from Eastlands Road to Abbotsford Road, with an alternative route in operation via Tweed Road, Netherdale Brae, Huddersfield Road and Braw Lads Brae.

Changes to road layout on A90 at Balmedie

Traffic management on the A90 at Balmedie will be reconfigured to allow works to progress at Balmedie Junction, as part of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project.

This change to the road layout is expected to take place between 8pm on Friday 28 July and 6am Monday 31 July using a series of lane closures and lane openings.

After these changes are complete, the temporary diversion will be to the east of the current alignment, and two lanes of traffic will be provided in both the northbound and southbound directions. This will enable the contractor to construct and complete the second half of the Balmedie Underpass.

Weekend closures for C55C Pitmedden Road

The C55C Pitmedden Road in Dyce is expected to close for two weekends to enable the contractor to construct farm accesses as part of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project.

The road is expected to close around 8pm on Friday 28 July 2017 and then reopen around 6am on Monday 31 July 2017. It is then expected to close again the following weekend at 8pm on Friday 4 August and will then re-open at 6am on Monday 7 August.