Building Briefs – March 24th

Redpath Construction has been appointed as main contractor by Stone Acre on a project to transform Blackfriars Presbyterian Church just off Edinburgh’s Royal Mile.

Built in 1871, the church will be converted into 10 loft style apartments with restaurant space below.

Redpath will working in collaboration with Gardiner & Theobald, Morgan McDonnell Architects and McColl Associates over approximately nine months.

Council unveils £4m increased investment in Dundee homes

Funds available for new build council and housing association houses in Dundee are set to go up by over £4 million in the next financial year, the city council has confirmed.

The Scottish Government has announced an increase in resources in Dundee for the Affordable Housing Supply Programme to £10.6m in the next financial year, up from the current £6.3m.

Affordable housing projects are already taking shape across the city. The 32 unit development by Hillcrest at Sinclair Street is nearing completion and the 21 unit Dens Road site is progressing well.

Angus Housing Association will shortly complete 32 houses at Ormiston Crescent while Home Scotland is making good progress building 70 homes at Phase 3 Mill o’ Mains and is completing 38 units at Kilbride Place, Whitfield.

Blackwood Housing Association is also about to start on 6 new build wheelchair units at Glamis Road.

Longannet closure marks the end of coal-fired electricity generation in Scotland

Longannet Power Station in Fife will switch-off the last of its four generating units at 3pm today for the last time, concluding a 46-year shift for Scotland’s largest power station, and signalling the end of coal-fired electricity production in Scotland.

Constructed over eight years, Longannet was the largest coal power station in Europe when it came online in 1969. Capable of producing 2,400 megawatts (MW) of electricity for the grid, Longannet powered over 2 million homes on average every year it was operational.

The last megawatt from Longannet will be generated at 3pm when the final unit is ‘desynchronised’.

Even through the final winter, Longannet has been essential to meeting the electricity needs of Scotland and on average produced enough electricity to provide more than 25 per cent of all the homes in Scotland.

Work begins on 41 Port Glasgow affordable homes

A developer has announced the start on site of a new affordable housing development in Port Glasgow.

Working alongside River Clyde Homes, Cullross said the site preparation works have begun to allow the 41 home development at Bay Street to start very soon.

The project is an example of excellent partnership working to transform a derelict and unused site and to deliver much needed new homes.

Inverclyde Council granted planning approval in February for 13 houses and 28 flats on the site.

The project will be partly funded through Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Investment Programme with the rest of the funding coming directly from River Clyde Homes. The new homes will be extremely energy efficient and will meet the Scottish Government’s Greener Standard.

The site sits adjacent to the Former Gourock Ropeworks building which has already been subject to refurbishment and has provided new homes. The Ropeworks building is architecturally significant and it was important that the proposed development acted to compliment the building and its surrounding environment. JM Architects have dedicated a lot of time to ensuring that they came up with a design that all stakeholders were comfortable with.

The plan is to start construction works in April 2016 with a view to the new homes being completed late summer 2017.

Scottish Government appoints new Scottish Land Fund committee

Land reform minister Dr Aileen McLeod has announced the appointment of seven members to the new Scottish Land Fund (SLF) committee.

The committee, to be chaired by John Watt, is made up of Calum Macleod, Lisa Tennant, David Green, Duncan MacPherson, Anne Lear and Janet Miles. The appointments will run until March 2017 on a part time basis.

The Scottish Government’s £10 million Scottish Land Fund, will support more communities, both urban and rural, to buy their land and other assets. The fund is being delivered by the Big Lottery Fund in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise, and opens for applications on April 1.

The previous Land Fund awarded £9m over three years to 52 communities throughout Scotland. Of the 500,000 acres of land already in community ownership, over 90,000 acres was purchased with help from the Land Fund, benefiting 71,000 people throughout the country.

Scottish Land & Estates, which represents land-based businesses across Scotland, has welcomed the new Committee.

David Johnstone, chairman of Scottish Land & Estates, said: “We support community land ownership as part of a diverse range of publicly and privately funded ownership models.

“Our members and staff are willing to assist with advice on land and property management that may be useful to prospective owners.”

Great response to careers event at Clark Contracts

Over 300 people interested in a traineeship or apprenticeship in the construction industry attended a careers evening staged by Clark Contracts at its head office in Paisley.

Held on March 22, the event proved so popular that the organisers had to close registrations in advance, as the building reached its full capacity. There were queues of eager attendees and parents, with people arriving an hour before the starting time.

The event attracted over 300 people who had the opportunity to meet the company’s recruitment team and current employees to find out more about careers at Clark Contracts. Representatives from the Construction Industry Training Board and West College Scotland also attended to speak to guests.

Clark Contracts’ academy director, David Cooper, delivered presentations throughout the evening on the company’s apprenticeship opportunities, including numerous examples of staff members who started as apprentices and have since progressed into other roles in the company.

Also on hand to talk to guests were a variety of Clark Contracts’ staff including site managers, quantity surveyors, building surveyors, contracts managers, marketing & business development executives, estimators, administrators and health and safety officers. Guests were also able pick up and fill out application forms.

Construction student fronts sustainable housing project

A construction student from New College Lanarkshire has returned from a life-changing journey to Rwanda, where he assisted in the development of a self-sustaining village.

18-year-old Connor Patterson joined dad Derek, CEO of Coatbridge-based Crane Maintain, and two other members of Airdrie Ebenezer Church on the journey to the village of Rukumberi to continue work that has been ongoing in the village since the church started to sponsor it in 2007.

Established by Scottish charity, Comfort Rwanda, and its partner Solace Ministries, Airdrie Ebenezer Church partnered with the village to help support the recovery of genocide survivors in the country, through orphan care, agricultural support and house building. They have spent years fundraising to help the projects and have so far helped develop four sustainable houses and plan a clean water filtration system which is currently in progress.

Connor, a NC Built Environment student, completed a pre-apprenticeship course at the Motherwell campus student last year before progressing to his current course, and was able to use his construction skills and knowledge to help research, plan and develop sustainable homes.

During the visit, the group investigated the new priorities held by the village – more housing, fresh water pumps and repairs on 30 houses. Connor and the rest of the group commenced repairs to six houses during the week-long visit, and the Church is currently fundraising to repair the rest.

They also paid a visit to a local landfill site where they found 17 orphaned/homeless children sleeping. Unable to comprehend the living conditions the children were living in, the group decided to rescue all 17 kids while they search for sponsors here in Scotland – allowing them to live in a house rented by Comfort Rwanda, with a house mother. On return from the trip they were informed that the children had all been housed, given medical treatment and were enrolled in School.

Arbroath pupils receive tour of new school

Primary school children from Arbroath have been given a sneak preview of their new building as it nears the final stages of construction.

Youngsters from primaries one to seven joined head teacher Jacqui Smith in receiving a tour of the new Timmergreens Primary School.

They also received a talk from site manager Ally MacDonald about the £4.2 million project, which is being led by Angus Council and delivered by contractors Robertson Tayside with development and procurement partners, hub East Central Scotland.

The school will cater for approximately 220 pupils, with facilities set to include a games hall available for use by members of the local community.

Along with development of the new Warddykes Primary School building, the Timmergreens project forms the first phase of Angus Council’s major investment programme to upgrade Arbroath’s primary schools.

The new Timmergreens Primary School is scheduled for completion in May 2016.