Building Briefs – June 17th

Progress is well under way with the first new homes now on site at a new housing development in Niddrie, Edinburgh.

Being developed by CCG (Scotland) Ltd, The Schoolhouse is giving a new lease of life to the site of the former Niddrie Mill Primary School.

The development will comprise a total of 66 residential properties, of which 32 are available for private sale including seventeen 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and fifteen 2 and 3 bedroom terraced homes. The site will also provide 34 mixed tenure homes for social and mid market rent which, upon completion, will be managed by social housing provider Places for People.

The Schoolhouse forms part of the regeneration programme for Craigmillar being delivered by PARC Craigmillar Ltd that will see 2,000 new homes built in the area.

Demolition work begins at Dundee plant site

Demolition cranes have moved in to Dundee’s Nynas plant to begin the removal of refining equipment.

The work will include the demolition of the two distinctive silver towers at the site which have been redundant since the Swedish company ceased processing crude oil in December 2013.

Dumfries & Galloway Council to go ahead with Charter proposals

Dumfries & Galloway Council has approved a Business Plan as well as funding for the transformation of Kirkcudbright’s community buildings.

The proposals involve increasing future use of community buildings, including a gallery within the current Town Hall building.

The redeveloped building will host a cafe, open space area for the community and a mezzanine floor to increase exhibition capacity.

New £3.5m Seabraes bridge opens to Dundee public

The new £3.5 million bridge at Seabraes opened to the public yesterday.

Connecting the West End with Riverside Drive, the 54-metre span will be officially opened by the Scottish Government’s transport minister Keith Brown in August or September, but was opened to the public earlier following nine months of construction by Morgan Sindall.

Previously the only detour was a 1,500-metre detour around Dundee station.

The project is being funded from a range of sources, including the Vacant and Derelict Land Fund, Scottish Enterprise, Cycling Walking and Safer Streets, Dundee City Council and the developers of new flats nearby.

St Johnstone lead bid to block road plan near Perth Crematorium

Developers behind a massive Perth expansion plan have joined a growing chorus of disapproval over a proposed relief road at the city’s crematorium.

The Pilkington Trust – which wants to build the 1,500-home Almond Valley Village – yesterday emerged as one of several challengers to a land take-over bid by Perth and Kinross Council.

The local authority is using compulsory purchase powers for a major upgrade of the A9/A85 junction, which is described as a crucial link to new developments on the edge of the city.

St Johnstone Football Club is also objecting to the buy-up, claiming construction would have a “seriously detrimental impact on the club’s operations”.

The directorate of planning and environmental appeals has appointed a reporter to handle the case. A date for a public inquiry has yet to be set.

Scottish Water announces Glasgow improvement works

Scottish Water has announced wastewater infrastructure improvements are to be carried out in Glasgow.

A short section of the west-bound carriageway of Alderman road between Alderman Place and Pikeman Road will be closed to through traffic from 29 June for six weeks.

No through traffic will be permitted on the west-bound carriageway of this stretch of Alderman Road.

Local access, including access to Alderman Place, will be maintained.

The improvement work and lane closure have been arranged in liaison with the council’s road department.

GAP Hire Solutions signs three year agreement with Ardmore Construction

GAP Hire Solutions has announced a new partnership with Ardmore Construction to purchase its fleet of plant, tools and site accommodation.

These items will be added to GAP’s fleet and hired out to Ardmore as part of the deal which names GAP as the London developer’s sole hire supplier, servicing some 25 existing sites across the city for an initial three years in addition to providing equipment for Ardmore’s increasingly strong pipeline of new work in core markets.

VisitScotland Information Centre to remain in temporary premises

An information centre is to remain in temporary premises while discussions continue over redeveloping a historic train station.

Last month a fire destroyed Ballater’s Old Royal Station and left VisitScotland Information Centre (VIC) staff without premises.

The Cairngorms National Park Authority (CNPA) has been sharing accommodation with the centre since the 15 May.

The station is owned by Aberdeenshire Council and has been leased to VisitScotland the last 15 years.

Further survey work has been undertaken on the site and discussions are ongoing with Historic Scotland as the station is a B-listed building.

The temporary VIC is set to become a longer term solution, potentially for 18-24 months.

Enhancements will therefore be made to the VIC in terms of displays and shelving.

More room at Premier Inn with Falkirk expansion

Hotel chain Premier Inn has unveiled plans to expand its venues across Falkirk.

With the Falkirk Wheel now well established as an attraction and the nearby Kelpies drawing in more than one million visitors in the first year, tourism agency VisitFalkirk aims to increase the number of overnight stays in the region.

Premier Inn is adding 20 rooms at its Falkirk Central and Falkirk East sites, along with 26 at Falkirk North. Sixty rooms have already been revamped at its Larbert hotel.

Housing minister backs new £3.4m Glasgow affordable homes development

Flats earmarked for demolition have been given a new lease of life thanks to a £3.4 million regeneration project in Glasgow.

Forty flats at Shawbridge Street in Pollokshaws have been refurbished and turned into modern, two-bedroom homes for mid-market rent.

Yesterday housing minister Margaret Burgess visited the development to meet with some of the new tenants and see for herself the huge transformation of the two blocks.

The regeneration project was carried out by GHA, part of Wheatley Group, with part funding by the Scottish Government’s Greener Homes Innovation Fund. The homes – which have a range of energy-efficient features including solar panels and sun rooms – are let and managed by Lowther Homes, GHA’s sister organisation.

City Building, which refurbished the blocks, provided training and employment opportunities for 14 local people including five youth apprentices as part of its contract with GHA.

Glenmuckloch coal mine turbine plans submitted

A planning application has been lodged for a wind farm next to an opencast coal mine in Dumfries and Galloway.

Glenmuckloch Renewable Energy wants to build eight turbines on the land near Kirkconnel.

Two community wind turbines are already being put up on the site.

Developers said they believed the latest project could generate enough energy to meet the needs of 16,000 homes and contribute about £4.4m to the local economy.

Leftover Elgin soil used for new structure

Surplus soil from the Elgin Flood Alleviation scheme is being transported to Cooper Park.

It is understood the leftover material will be shaped by bulldozers into a large raised landform.

Members of Moray Council’s policy and resources committee gave the go-ahead for the project last month.

Over 10,000 tonnes of soil will be transported to the site creating a two metre high area affording views across Cooper Park.

Project staff working on the Elgin scheme came up with proposals to create an amphitheatre-style structure.

Once the earthworks have been completed it will be turfed instead of seeded, allowing the public to use it before the end of summer.

Work is expected to take six weeks to complete.

Runway upgrade considered to revitalise Dundee Airport

Planners are looking at novel ways of revitalising Dundee Airport’s fortunes including a project to widen the Riverside airstrip’s runway.

The length of the runway has long been viewed as a major barrier to the airport expansion as it is too short to handle certain types of aircraft.

However, city development director Mike Galloway told business leaders that other approaches to building out the airport and attracting new routes were now being considered.

One possibility is a widening of the existing runway, a project that could be feasible within the confines of the existing airport.

Winning sign chosen for new Vale of Leven Workshops

The winning design for the new Levenside Business Court directory sign has been revealed. Twenty-one students from the West of Scotland College, Design & Architecture department submitted designs for a competition, co-ordinated by West Dunbartonshire Council’s development partner hub West Scotland.

The brief was to create a Directory Sign for thirteen new Workshops units being developed in the Vale of Leven Industrial Estate. The winning entries design will be built as part of the project.

A small ceremony was held on Thursday at hub West Scotland’s office, where Depute Provost Councillor Millar led the proceedings. The winner was announced as Rachel Lowe, an HNC Interior Design student from Clydebank.

The judging panel commented that her design for the site sign board was tremendous, and took into consideration the materials and setting of the workshops.

3G pitch set for Dundee high school

Dundee City Council could help a community sports hub achieve its goal to create a 3G pitch in the grounds of Craigie High School.

Councillors are being asked to agree to a contribution of £95,000 towards the near £600,000 facility which has been the subject of long term planning and fund-raising by Craigie Community Sports Hub (CCSH).

The policy and resources committee will be told on Monday (June 22) that the Hub has almost reached its funding target, and that diggers could be on site next month at the obsolete blaes pitch at Craigie High next to Arbroath Road.

Funding already obtained by the Hub includes a major contribution from the Cash Back for Communities Scheme administered by sportscotland. There have also been generous donations from the Robertson Trust, Gannochy Trust, Garfield Weston Foundation, Moffat Charitable Trust and the Scottish Football Partnership. Other local fundraising initiatives are still ongoing.