Building Briefs - June 17th

• CBRE sells Glasgow office building

84-94 St Vincent Street, which is home to a wide range of occupiers including Pizza Punks on the ground floor, and Interstate Hotels, Crawford & Co and Visit Scotland, on the upper floors, has been purchased by a private investor. It comprises 42,343 sq ft of office and retail space over basement, ground and seven upper floors.

Strategically positioned within the Central Business District, the Category A listed building occupies a highly prominent location on the north side of St Vincent Street between its junctions with Renfield Street and West Nile Street.

CBRE acted for the vendor Patrizia in the transaction and JLL represented the purchaser.

• Bilfinger UK opens new regional office in Grangemouth

Engineering and industrial services provider Bilfinger UK has opened a new regional office in Falkirk following a succession of recent contract wins in Scotland.

The new site will provide a base for 20 employees and create the platform and infrastructure to support further growth for the business in Scotland. Several of Bilfinger UK’s regional client’s contracts will be managed centrally from the new office, located in Grangemouth.

Bilfinger UK delivers unified, multidisciplinary support to its partners, driving efficiencies and reducing cost across the whole life cycle of their assets. Its services include design and build, automated control and electrical systems, installation, commissioning, and operations and maintenance. 

• North Ayrshire Early Years establishments undergo transformation

With the school summer holidays fast approaching, North Ayrshire Council this week showcased five of its newly refurbished Early Years establishments.

Early Years classes at St Bridget’s in Kilbirnie, Annick and Springside in Irvine, St Peter’s in Ardrossan, and Gateside, have been refurbished and extended in time for delivering 1140 hours of Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) from August 2021.

The £5.4m refurbishments and extensions include large, modern indoor and outdoor play areas with free-flowing access to the innovative outdoor spaces. The unrestricted flow from indoor to outdoor offers the children the freedom to safely access and use both areas where high quality learning experiences are available for all.

North Ayrshire Council’s ELC capital programme has 42 projects, including 27 refurbishments, 14 extensions, and one new build provision. The council plans will create additional capacity at 41 facilities through its indoor/outdoor learning model and design brief. The approach to undertake refurbishments or extensions across all of our ELC facilities is unique in Scotland and means that children attending all North Ayrshire Council early years establishments benefit from an enhanced learning environment.

So far, 28 of these projects have been completed, five at construction stage and 7 further projects are on site or planned for summer works.

After the summer holidays, the council is set to deliver 1140 hours of ELC in all council and funded provider centres across North Ayrshire.

• Sales burgeon for Complete Weed Control

Despite a winter and spring of freak weather conditions, not to mention the effects of the pandemic, Carluke-based ground maintenance and weed control specialist business Complete Weed Control is undergoing an unprecedented business blossoming.

In a growth rate matched only by the weeds it suppresses, the Scottish company has posted its best results ever, up from £1 million last year to £1.2m to the end of last month (May 2021), with £1.5m forecast for the coming year.

It has also boosted its head count by more than 25% to a full-time total of 22, and introduced a recruitment strategy which focuses on finding the right personnel and upskilling them in alignment with the company’s future aims to make them a long-term part of the family-oriented business.

This has created a workforce which is committed to the success of Complete Weed Control and which is steadily enhancing its reputation with its expanding portfolio of clients, among whom it numbers many local authorities as well as private companies.

• Work begins to connect Howwood to Paisley via new cycle route

Renfrewshire Council is improving the active travel route between Howwood ad Paisley with a new cycle route.

The new 35-minute, 10km cycle will connect the village of Howwood and Paisley town centre, via Spateston, Johnstone and Elderslie, and will provide a safe route for cyclists travelling between the communities.

Using feedback from initial engagement with residents, businesses, community groups and elected members, the final route will maintain both existing westbound lanes on Main Road, Elderslie (left and straight on) at Glenpatrick Road and there will be no change to Main Road, near Elderslie Post Office, to ensure that parking is maintained.

Work began on June 14 and is expected to last around ten weeks.

• Council progresses plans to develop affordable housing at Monifieth site

Angus Council is to take ownership of Invertay House and the surrounding grounds in Monifieth to develop new affordable homes.

Agreed by the communities committee earlier this year, the development is included in the Angus Strategic Housing Investment Plan, which is a five-year plan setting out the investment decisions for affordable housing in the area.

Invertay House is a prominent and much-loved building of historical significance to the residents of Monifieth. In 2015, it was deemed surplus to requirements by Angus Council with Community Asset Transfer, social housing or commercial sale identified as being the most suitable end use for the building.

The Housing Service aims to convert the main buildings into housing that will benefit the local community, keeping as many features of late Victorian era as possible that are worthwhile retaining. As we want to enhance these features and retain them in the new design where possible, we intend to carry out a soft strip-out and survey exercise of the main buildings prior to any planning application being finalised.

This will include removal of some of the incongruous low-quality extensions that have been added in the last 50 years. This will allow the true building form to stand out and enable us to develop a sympathetic conversion to residential.

Site set up for this soft strip-out phase is likely to be in December 2021.

As the project gets underway, engagement will take place with the wider community about the proposals, with a planning application being submitted in 2022, and construction works starting in the following 12 months.

• New Isle of Lewis homes handed over by Hebridean Housing Partnership

Tenants have moved into the first phase of new homes on the Isle of Lewis delivered by Hebridean Housing Partnership.

The first phase at Sinclair Avenue has delivered 20 houses for affordable rent and eight for sale through the New Supply Shared Equity (NSSE) scheme.

• New fund opens for island community groups

Businesses and community groups located across Scotland’s inhabited islands are now able to apply for grants of up to £150,000 through the new Island Communities Fund (ICF) for projects focussed on supporting sustainable island economies and the journey towards net zero.

The fund is backed by £2 million of Scottish Government funding, which comes from the £9.5m committed to the Islands Programme for 2021-22.

Grant applications will be submitted through Inspiring Scotland, which will manage the fund. Applicants will be expected to put forward ‘shovel-ready’ island-based community-led projects and detail how it will contribute to a successful and sustainable future for the islands and support employment and community resilience.

The submission deadline for applications is noon on July 16 and projects should be completed by 31 March 2022.