Building Briefs – June 6th

Knight Frank closes £11.3m Aberdeen City Wharf deal

The City Wharf mixed-use development in Aberdeen has changed hands in an £11.35 million deal brokered by Knight Frank.

The independent property consultancy advised restructuring specialists Moorfields on the sale of the 66,045 sq. ft. city centre development to Hamcap (Aberdeen) Ltd, part of commercial property consultancy, HKIP’s latest high yielding fund, HYIF 3.

City Wharf, a six-storey mix of retail and leisure accommodation with Grade A office space on the upper floors, is let to a range of occupiers, including catering equipment company, Nisbets; marine services provider, V Ships; asset management software company, Return to Scene; shipping company, Clarksons Platou and Maersk Drilling UK. The development also has an adjoining 386-space multi-storey car park which is currently let to NCP and a 23,268 sq. ft. casino let to Grosvenor.

Knight Frank, together with Moorfields, is now seeking planning permission to change another element of the development which is still on the market - Exchequer House - from offices to residential accommodation. The building’s ground floor is occupied by UK casino company, Grosvenor Casinos which formed part of the transaction.

Coul Links Golf Course decision deferred

The Highland Council’s north planning applications committee has deferred making a decision on the application submitted by Coul Links Ltd to develop an 18-hole golf course at Coul Links, north of Dornoch.

The deferral was agreed in order to allow the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) to fully appraise issues raised in an objection received by the Not Coul objector group. The applicant has responded to SEPA on these latest objections and SEPA needs time to give further consideration to the issues raised.

It is proposed that a special meeting will take place in two weeks’ time for councillors to be updated as to SEPA’s response and to allow the application to be determined.

Council steps up efforts to tackle Midlothian’s potholes

Midlothian Council has put together three squads of workers to tackle the large number of potholes caused by the ‘Beast from the East’ weather which hit the county earlier this year.

Using both internal and external resources, the council is currently spending an extra £15,000 a week to repair the damage done to Midlothian’s roads following the arctic conditions of February and March.

The additional resources are allowing around 700 potholes to be filled a week.

The squads have been addressing the strategic road network initially with a series of permanent repairs while there will be a programme to resurface a number of other roads.

There are also plans to put out to tender for £500,000 worth of permanent repairs to roads across Midlothian.

A92 crossing plans revealed

A signalised pedestrian crossing will be installed near Balbirnie Mains, as part of further improvements on the A92.

Transport Scotland carried out an extensive investigation into potential crossing options following the death of nine-year-old Logan Carrie, who was killed in a road accident at this location.

Detailed design work for the traffic signal controlled crossing is underway, with a view to having it in place before the end of the financial year.

Improvements agreed for Peterhead school

A programme of urgent improvements has been approved for Peterhead Community Campus as plans progress for a new £71 million replacement.

Aberdeenshire Council’s Buchan area committee agreed to the works during private session at its meeting in Peterhead.

The work will involve roof repairs, general improvements, drainage works, electrical repairs and ceiling upgrades and is due to take place over the summer holidays to minimise disruption.

Councillors agreed to include £71m for a new community campus in its capital plan for 2023-2028 when the budget was approved in February.

50 new affordable homes to be built on Skye

Up to 50 new affordable homes are expected to be delivered on the Isle of Skye this year, according to the Highland Council.

Members the Skye and Raasay committee recently discussed a report focusing on local housing issues in the region, as well as examining the council’s performance against a number of national indicators from April 2017 to March 2018.

Overall, the average response time for emergency repairs to council houses continues to be within the Highland target of 14 hours. Committee members were also advised that although there had been a slight increase in response times since last quarter, an additional two maintenance technicians have recently been appointed, so the time taken to carry out emergency repairs is expected to improve in the future. Statistics for non-emergency repairs show an improvement over the last year with response times now below the Highland target.

Home improvement consultation for sheltered housing residents in North Lanarkshire

People living in council run sheltered housing complexes in North Lanarkshire are being asked their views on potential changes to current services.

The residents will have the opportunity to take part in discussion forums and meetings with North Lanarkshire Council housing staff, and will be asked to take part in a survey so they can help shape the council’s future sheltered housing support service.

To take part in the survey, visit www.northlanarkshire.gov.uk/shelteredhousingreview.