Building Briefs – March 18th

Melville Housing unveils £2.4m home improvements investment

Melville Housing Association is to invest £2.4 million on improvements to tenants’ homes throughout Midlothian over the next 12 months.

The biggest project will be the replacement of 200 older kitchens across Melville’s stock. The investment will also pay for 100 new bathrooms, 75 new heating systems as well 10 replacement roofs.

In addition to these improvements, a further 37 houses in Mayfield, which were built with solid concrete walls (known as No Fines), will receive external wall insulation. This work, carried out with the help of grant funding, will complete the insulation programme for Melville’s remaining concrete No Fines homes in Mayfield.

Over the past four years Melville has fitted more than 450 of its homes with external wall insulation, making them both warmer and cheaper to run as well as vastly improving their appearance.

Barratt Developments in Scotland celebrates five star status

Barratt Developments in Scotland, which includes both Barratt and David Wilson Homes, is celebrating after receiving a major national award from the Home Builders Federation (HBF).

The housebuilder has achieved a 90 per cent customer satisfaction score and 5 star rating after it took part in a nationwide survey. Barratt Homes is the only major national housebuilder to have been awarded the maximum 5 star rating for seven years in a row by the HBF.

Barratt Developments took part in the UK-wide survey of more than 45,000 homebuyers which revealed that over 90 per cent of Barratt customers would recommend the homes to a friend. The high customer satisfaction for Barratt comes from checking more than 400 details throughout the build process and three separate inspections are involved before any front door keys are handed over.

The HBF’s star rating scheme is designed to provide home buyers with information to help guide their decision.

MP visits Mactaggart & Mickel Homes’ award-winning site manager

Corri Wilson MP has visited Mactaggart & Mickel Homes’ Greenan Views development in Doonfoot, South Ayrshire to meet the company’s multi award-winning site manager, Stuart Gillespie.

Ms Wilson who is MP for Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock paid Stuart a visit after hearing of his recent success at the prestigious NHBC Pride in the Job Supreme Awards. The renowned site manager was named the number two ranking site manager in the UK, after having scooped the Regional Award for Scotland in the Medium Housebuilder category in October.

Since joining Mactaggart & Mickel Homes as an apprentice joiner more than 20 years ago, Stuart has worked his way up through the ranks to site manager, racking up an impressive 26 awards on the way.

During Ms Wilson’s visit to Greenan Views, Stuart provided her with a guided tour of the live site and showhomes, accompanied by other members of the Mactaggart & Mickel Homes team.

Funding boost for five historic sites

Historic Environment Scotland has announced over £650,000 worth of funding to help repair historic buildings across the country.

The funding has been awarded to five projects, including Glasgow’s iconic Pollok House, home to a range of outstanding artwork, Cromwell Harbour in Dunbar, and the Old Custom House and viaduct in Dumbarton.

Meanwhile, £38,400 has been given to the Crail Preservation Society to help carry out repairs that will improve access to the A-Listed Priory Doo’cot and Kirkcudbright Town Hall will use £36,036 to make fabric repairs to the B-Listed building, which will contribute to the wider project of re-using the building as an art gallery and community space.

The money is awarded as part of the organisation’s Building Repair Grants scheme, which supports repair work to buildings of architectural or historic interest. Priority was given to applicants who demonstrated that investment in their project would result in community benefit.

This round of funding, the second since Historic Environment Scotland came into being in October 2015, is divided between projects in Dumbarton, Glasgow, Fife, East Lothian and Dumfries and Galloway.

East Ayrshire pub regeneration project takes off

The restoration of one of Galston’s most attractive historic properties is underway after the scaffolding went up last week.

Helen and David Murdoch, new owners of The Buck’s Head, called time on years of deterioration as work started to return the fine Victorian sandstone building to its former glory thanks to grant funding from East Ayrshire Council’s Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS).

The scheme gives building owners grants of up to 90 per cent of the cost of renovating historically important town centre buildings, using only sympathetic, traditional materials and methods, to ensure the buildings are wind and watertight and fit for purpose in the 21st Century.

Kilmarnock and Cumnock town centres have already benefited from multi million pound schemes which have resulted in the revamping of over 30 properties ranging from whole blocks to private homes, but for Galston, this is the first of many projects earmarked to benefit from the regeneration scheme.

The Buck’s Head is the first of several buildings in and around Galston which will shortly be undergoing regeneration. These include: 33-35 Bridge Street, 19-23 Bridge Street, 5-9 Bridge Street, 1-7 Brewland Street, 2-4 Cross Street and Barr Castle.

McCarthy and Stone celebrates top marks for customer satisfaction for 11 consecutive years

The Scottish region of McCarthy and Stone is celebrating after it achieved the full five star customer satisfaction rating for an eleventh consecutive year in an independent survey announced by the Home Builders Federation (HBF) this week.

Highlighting McCarthy and Stone’s commitment to delivering excellent customer service across the business’s various product ranges and regions, the company is the only housebuilder – of any size or type – to have achieved the award for eleven consecutive years and every year of the HBF’s Customer Satisfaction Survey since they began in 2006.

McCarthy and Stone has maintained a 90+ per cent customer satisfaction rating throughout this period, based on whether customers would recommend the company and their product to a friend.

The HBF award recognises customer service excellence across the industry, with particular emphasis on a developer’s commitment to guiding home buyers through the purchasing process, including the provision of post-sales support.

SHE transmission to deliver £3m Dundee cable replacement project

Scottish Hydro Electric Transmission (SHE Transmission) is due to carry out a £3 million cable replacement project next month in Dundee.

A 132kV high voltage cable connecting Dudhope and Glenagnes substations is set to be replaced by two new one mile long cables.

The project will begin on 04 April and is due to finish in September.

The SHE Transmission team will use existing underground conduits to enable the works to be carried out without opening large sections of public highways or pavements.

Excavation areas will be located at A923 Lochee Road, Fleuchar Street, Scott Street and Loglie Avenue.

£100,000 resurfacing project to begin in South Lanarkshire

A £100,000 resurfacing project is due to get underway next week in South Lanarkshire.

Scotland TranServ are to upgrade almost 5,100 square metres of carriageway along the A737 trunk road at Coalburn.

The project will take place over two nights from 8pm to 6am and will begin on Wednesday, 23 March.

Electrification works to begin at Falkirk train station

Electrification works are due to begin next month at a train station in Falkirk, Network Rail has announced.

Engineers will install electrification mast foundations in the memorial garden at Polmont station as part of the £742 million Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP).

The project is due to begin on Saturday, 02 April.

Network Rail said the memorial plaque and bench will not be affected, while a section of the garden to be disturbed will be fully reinstated on completion of the project.

The memorial commemorates the events of July 1984, when a train derailed near the station fatally injuring 13 people.

Part of the garden is to be temporarily removed to allow installation of the foundations for an electrification stanchion.

Millstream awarded £1.2m e-procurement contract by Scottish Government

Electronic tendering provider Millstream has been awarded a £1.2 million, five year contract to continue running the national e-procurement website Public Contracts Scotland (PCS), which handles tenders worth around £10billion to the Scottish economy every year.

The announcement of the reappointment of Millstream was made by Keith Brown, cabinet secretary for infrastructure, investment and cities, following a competitive open tender process.

Millstream, which was first appointed to design and manage PCS seven years ago, will remain sole operator of the portal for all public sector tenders, ranging from construction and transport to IT and healthcare.