Building Briefs – March 1st

Robertson appoints new North East England MD

Robertson has announced Garry Hope as the new regional managing director of its operations in North East England.

The appointment follows the promotion of Andy McLeod from the role to managing director of Robertson Construction England. Andy, who has been with the firm for nine years, will oversee Robertson’s three English regional businesses in his new position.

Garry has worked in the construction industry for almost 40 years, starting at Wimpy Construction as a management trainee. He was also with Miller Construction for 26 years, increasing its northern region’s turnover from £5m to £85m as area director.

Robertson Group is nearing the end of a five year plan to diversify and expand geographically, focusing on growing profitability.

Investment boost for M74

More than half a million pounds is being invested by Transport Scotland in essential maintenance on the M74 through Lanarkshire.

The repairs, which are being carried out by Scotland TranServ, are being staggered over a number of weeks to help minimise disruption. They will result in an improved surface between junction 12, Millbank and junction 6, Hamilton.

The programme has already addressed defects at junctions 9 and 10 and the next stage will begin later this week at junction 12.

Plans for 150-bed hotel in Edinburgh

CDA Architects have submitted plans for a 150 bedroom hotel at Torpichen Street, Edinburgh, on behalf of Axcel Hospitality.

The brownfield spot will be given over to a new hotel designed to act as a ‘stepping stone’ between existing Georgian properties and the 13 storey Exchange office tower on a restricted plot limited by the presence of railway tunnels, adopting a ground floor pavilion over the affected ground to maintain the building line.

Scotland aims for 26,000 apprentices a year

An “ambitious” target of recruiting 26,000 Modern apprentices (MA) for 2016/17 has been set by the Scottish Government.

Cabinet secretary for fair work, Roseanna Cunningham, outlined the importance of apprentices to the economy and in tackling young unemployment.

Over the past four years, the Scottish Government has exceeded its original target of 25,000 MA opportunities each year.

After 2016/17, the next milestone is to have 30,000 apprentices a year by 2020.

In 2007, Scotland had just 15,000 people starting Modern Apprenticeships.

Since then, more than 190,000 starts have been delivered, with 101,000 of these coming in the last four years alone.

Majority of Scots want next Scottish Government to make renewables a priority

Renewables has come out top of a new poll that asked people in Scotland which energy source the next Scottish Government should prioritise.

As Scotland heads to the polls on May 5, the YouGov survey asked more than 1,000 respondents whether the next government should prioritise the continued development of renewables, extend the life of fossil fuel plants, use shale gas or build new nuclear power stations.

70 per cent of those polled want to see more renewable energy such as wind, solar, wave and tidal, and two-thirds agreed that the next government should “continue to take forward policies that tackle greenhouse gas emissions and climate change”.

Only 19 per cent said the next government should prioritise the use of fracking for shale gas while 42 per cent said they should not prioritise building new or extending the life of fossil fuel power stations. 33 per cent support new nuclear power plants being treated as a priority.

The poll, commissioned by Scottish Renewables, is published on the first day of the industry representative’s annual conference in Edinburgh.

When asked about their own household energy needs, respondents were given the option of picking from a list of renewable energy devices they would consider installing in or around their own homes. The most popular response was for solar PV panels (39 per cent) followed by solar thermal panels (36 per cent), wind turbines (21 per cent), biomass boilers (20 per cent), heat pumps (20 per cent) and then small-scale hydro turbines (13 per cent).

Of those who indicated they already had a renewable energy device installed, solar panels were most commonly featured along with biomass boilers and heat pumps.

New planning guidance approved for Glentress Forest

Scottish Borders councillors have approved guidance for future sustainable development within Glentress Forest.

Developed in conjunction with Forest Enterprise Scotland, the Glentress Masterplan sets out a vision for the forest including a central recreation area at Glentress Peel, comprising:

The guidance also aims to ensure that any new uses and developments that take place will enhance Glentress as well as the wider Tweed Valley and are of high quality and sympathetic to the landscape.