Building Briefs – March 2nd

• Webster Homes showcases new Perth & Kinross development

To be named The Paddocks, the development consists of seven properties including five steading style homes, together with two detached five bedroom properties.

Each property is available with the option to buy an additional piece of paddock land for £10k an acre. This can be used for grazing horses or ponies, or simply to add to the size of garden for the property, perhaps to create an adventure playground for children.

• Savills invests in new water saving deal

Water retailer Business Stream has been awarded a new water supply contract with international real estate adviser Savills.

Edinburgh-based Business Stream has been working in partnership with the company since the Scottish retail water market opened in 2008.

In recent years, Business Stream has worked with Savills to develop a unique service offering that meets the specific water requirements of complex customer portfolios held by managing agents, such as when there is a change of tenancy.

Under the new agreement, worth over £800,000 per year, Business Stream will provide water and wastewater services to over 200 of the sites that Savills manage, across both Scotland and England.

• Work on Arbroath Flood Protection Scheme set to begin

A £12-million project designed to protect hundreds of homes in the Arbroath area from the potentially devastating impact of flooding will begin this spring.

Arbroath (Brothock Water) Flood Protection Scheme – funded by the Scottish Government and Angus Council – has been designed to reduce the risk of flooding in the coastal town, providing a one in 200-year standard of protection. The scheme is a national priority project under the Flood Risk Management Strategy and has been developed in partnership with the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA).

It is focused on holding flows back in the catchment above Arbroath to protect parts of the town that have suffered from flooding in the past and remain at risk from flooding.

Simply put, it will remove the threat of flooding and for 530 people and their properties, preventing flood damage that averages at £840,000 each year.

Contracts are out to tender and will be awarded shortly for a project that will take approximately 14-months to complete.

The Flood Risk Management (Scotland) Act 2009 introduced a new approach to flood risk management in Scotland.

The Act introduces a more sustainable and modern approach to flood risk management, suited to the needs of the 21st century and to the impact of climate change.

The protection scheme at Arbroath is designed around controlling the volume of water entering the Brothock during extreme weather.

To manage increased water volumes, three flood storage areas will be built at Brothock Meadows, St Vigeans and Hercules Den – using raised embankments and flow controls to retain flood water above the natural ground level during flood events. By doing this, the water flow and volume entering the Brothock can be controlled to limit the onward flows avoid the water course bursting its banks.

• Aberdeen City Council to hold engagement event on new replacement Riverbank School

Local people will have an opportunity to learn more about the planning application for the new replacement Riverbank School in Aberdeen.

The event is taking place at the new Tillydrone Community Campus on Hayton Road between 3 and 7pm on Wednesday 4th March. Attendees will also be able to find out more on how to comment on the planning application.

The session follows on from two consultation events in September where the public were given their first opportunity to see early designs for the new school, which will be built on the site of the former Tillydrone School and part of the St Machar School site.

With existing primary schools in the area operating at near capacity and new housing being built nearby, the Council approved plans for the new school which should be operational by 2022 and which will offer 100 new Early Learning and Childcare (ELC) places.

The new school will provide a capacity for a total of 651 pupils, a 3G seven-a-side football pitch and external outdoor play and learning facilities.

The design of the new school will be flexible to respond to any possible changes in the needs of the pupils, community or in the local demographic profile. The design will also ensure connections with the newly constructed Tillydrone Campus are formed by allowing access by the community out with school core times.

• Bellway builds fences with local scout group

Bellway Homes Ltd (Scotland West) has come to the rescue of a local scout group in Bishopton.

The scouts sent out an SOS to replace the boundary fence of their hall in the centre of the village, which was falling apart.

When Bellway, which has a development Dargavel Village in Bishopton, learned about their plight it offered to replace the wire fence with a brand new, much sturdier wooden version.

Andrew Woodrow, chair of the group executive for the scout group, said: “We had a small post and wire fence in place previously, but when work was done on underground pipes on our grounds it got pretty badly damaged and left in a poor state. Not only did it look awful, it was a trip hazard.

“I was aware Bellway were building in the area and wrote to them and asked if there was anything they could do for us. I was amazed when they said they would replace the existing fence with a brand new wooden one.

“It looks absolutely terrific and I can’t thank Bellway enough, the whole place looks so much tidier and is much safer.”

Andy Borland, construction director, Bellway Homes Ltd (Scotland West), said: “We were delighted to help build a new fence for the Scout Group as we know what an important role the scouts play in the local community and that they are the first people to help others out, so it was nice to do something for them.

“We would like to thank KMS Fencing for their support in building this fence.”

• Work begins on new £8m Active Travel project in Glasgow

Work has commenced on a new £8 million walking and cycling project in Glasgow.

The ambitious initiative will be made up of strategic protected cycle routes through Charing Cross and along Garscube Road, Woodlands Road, and St George’s Road.

It is considered to be the missing piece of the jigsaw which will connect to the improvements on Sauchiehall Street, the Forth and Clyde Canal, and regeneration work at Port Dundas and Sighthill. Public spaces, walking routes, new pedestrian crossings, and electric car and bike hire stations will also complement the project.

Connecting Woodside has been funded by the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council and delivered through the Sustrans Scotland Places for Everyone programme.

• Rosewell Primary School learns about site safety

Barratt Developments hosted an interactive site safety discussion at Rosewell Primary School last week to remind youngsters of the dangers of its nearby building sites at Mayburn Walk, Pentland View and St Clair Mews.

The housebuilder hosted a site safety session during a school assembly on Wednesday 26 February. The session took the pupils through the dangers of construction sites, how to stay safe near them, the developments themselves and site worker safety.

The Site Safety Roadshow has seen construction site experts deliver a 40-minute interactive presentation that includes a video, question and answer session, kids sized personal protection equipment (PPE) for the children to try on as well as an information pack for school staff to distribute to pupils and parents as they see fit.

This school visit forms part of a series of site safety workshops that take place in the areas that Barratt and David Wilson Homes are building. 

• City Building celebrates 8th birthday for leap-year employee

Glasgow-based construction firm City Building celebrated the leap year with a special party for one of its employees.

Martin English, a floor layer from Houston, was born on 29 February 1988. Although he is now 32, Martin’s official birthday has only come around eight times in his lifetime.

Martin, who has worked with the firm for four years, celebrated his special day with cake, balloons and a birthday party with his colleagues.

He said: “When I was younger, I got a lot of attention for being born on February 29. I remember when I was in school the teacher made me stand up in front of my whole class and told everyone that I was special because I was born on Leap Day.

“I’ve never had a birthday party before, so it’s really nice that my colleagues at work have made such a fuss. When I joined City Building, I had just celebrated my seventh birthday, having turned 28. It’s really kind of everyone to get involved.”

Often nicknamed ‘leapers’ or ‘leaplings’, the odds of being born on February 29 are less than 1%. There are approximately just 5 million people with leap day birthdays in the world.

• Additional funding to resolve disputes over shared upkeep of tenements

A project that offers tenement homeowners free advice to tackle problems over communal upkeep is to receive an extra £50,000 from the Scottish Government.

An additional £10,000 will support research into potential safety issues, such as electrical fires.

In addition to taking action to support tenement homeowners to set up owners’ associations to help maintain communal areas, the Scottish Government is giving consideration to a range of recommendations from the Scottish Parliamentary Working Group on Tenement Maintenance.

These include asking owners to pay into a common building reserve fund and improving Home Reports to include information about the condition of tenements.

Housing minister Kevin Stewart said: “Tenement homeowners and landlords have shared responsibilities for maintenance and need to ensure they have good quality, safe, sustainable and affordable properties.

“Tenements are an important part of Scotland’s architectural and cultural heritage and that is why the Scottish Government is supporting homeowners to maintain their properties. The proposals in our plan will help responsible owners in situations where one household is not contributing to shared costs, or where there are disputes about maintenance. They will also help to ensure buildings do not fall into disrepair.

“Through funding the Under One Roof website we are helping homeowners to access advice and support, and we are supporting vital research on electrical safety.”

Work to explore these initiatives will be taken forward this year to ensure they are practical and affordable and to develop the legal changes needed.