Building Briefs – March 19th

Atrium Homes has started work on a brand new office base in the heart of Shortlees, its largest community.

The Kilmarnock based registered social landlord anticipates construction of the new office will be complete by the end of 2015, ready for occupation and marking the beginning of a new phase in Atrium’s operations.

Work started in January 2015 to demolish the former church to make way for the new building, with the construction phase planned to start in March. The construction work is being undertaken by McTaggart Construction Ltd on a “design and build” basis and once complete, the office will be the operational headquarters for all of Atrium’s service delivery teams, including its newly formed maintenance wing, Atrium Property Services.

Revamp planned for Caithness General Hospital in Wick

NHS Highland is planning a £5m revamp of Caithness General Hospital in Wick.

The health board hopes to secure funding from the Scottish Government for the project, and aims to start work next year.

It could take about two years to complete the revamp of the 74-bed rural general hospital, which was opened in 1985.

NHS Highland said little had changed on the site since it was built.

Work gets underway on city centre Ibis Hotel

Caledon Property Group has begun the conversion and extension of Glasgow’s Telfer House, Miller Street, to form a 101 room Ibis Styles hotel.

This will see a glazed rooftop extension and plant area added to the unlisted 25,000sq/ft Edwardian office block with existing stonework cleaned and repointed where necessary.

The £8 million project is being funded by Maven Capital Partners after the derelict property was snapped up at auction for £560k before utilising the governments Business Premises Renovation Allowance (BPRA), designed to encourage the re-use of empty buildings.

Average Scottish house price ‘hits record high’

Scottish house prices have hit record levels as average prices soared to nearly £167,000 in January, according to a report.

The figure was more than £1,200 higher than the previous peak reached in May 2008, during the last housing boom.

The January total followed a 1 per cent rise in average house prices since December, the biggest monthly increase in seven months.

But, completed home sales in January were down 44 per cent on the previous month - double the usual seasonal downturn.

The findings were released in the latest house price index from Your Move/Acadata. Most areas saw prices rise last month, with Fife and West Lothian recording annual increases of about 10 per cent.

North Ayrshire experienced the biggest rise on the mainland over the last year, up 11.6 per cent.

Dundee saw prices soar 6.7 per cent during January - the largest month-on-month increase in Scotland though prices were down by more than 7 per cent on a year ago in West Dunbartonshire.

Green light for Dundee Showcase sports arena

A project to develop a multi-surface sports arena in Dundee has been given the go-ahead.

Showcase the Street has just been granted planning permission to push ahead with its new, £100,000 indoor sports facility at Manhattan Works.

It is hoped that the arena, which is to be developed in an empty unit at Manhattan Works next to the existing football and dance hall, could be used for national events once it’s opened.

The surface in the arena will be made of plastic and look like an ice rink and can be used for roller hockey, basketball, Futsal and indoor hockey.

The Manhattan Works premises in Dundee, which house a huge indoor football area along with purpose-built dance studios, were opened last September.

Barratt claims buying ‘frenzy’

Aberdeen’s property market saw a “frenzy” of activity at the weekend when a batch of planned houses went on sale.

More than 80 per cent of the properties being built by Barratt Homes as part of its Burnside development to the north-west of the city were snapped up on the launch day alone.

Burnside is part of the company’s wider Riverside Quarter development, on the Mugiemoss Road, in Bucksburn.

A second batch of properties will be available from today.

Funding for £300m City Deal bid for Inverness

Highland Council is to be provided with £100,000 to help it prepare a bid for up to £300m of UK government City Deal funding.

In Scotland, Glasgow and Clyde Valley are already benefiting from the initiative.

The Treasury will give Highland Council the £100,000.

If the local authority is successful in its bid, millions of pounds would be put towards building a new sports hub, museum and art gallery.

The Treasury said a decision on a deal could be made later this year.