Building Briefs – March 3rd

Social housing provider Sanctuary’s project to replace Cumbernauld’s high-rise blocks is building momentum.

Three blocks at Allanfauld Road in Seafar were demolished to make room for a £12.7 million development of 111 new flats which will be available by summer 2017.

Images from MAST Architects show the homes about to replace Bruce House, Buchan House and Douglas House.

The high-rise regeneration project is led by Sanctuary in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Government.

Nine of Cumbernauld’s 12 high-rises remain standing. By 2021, a total investment exceeding £75m will create more than 400 new homes to replace the ageing blocks that are lost.

AccorHotels eyes UK growth opportunities with new Edinburgh hotel

The HotelInvest division of AccorHotels is to open five new hotels in the UK in 2016 and 2017.

In total HotelInvest will invest over £160 million in the five upcoming properties to add to its existing UK portfolio of 97 properties (15,395 rooms).

These investments include a 146-room Adagio at Edinburgh Carlton Gate, scheduled to open in January 2017.

HotelInvest’s focus will be on the growth of its portfolio and is seeking further development opportunities in the UK.

Value of Scotland’s commercial property sales on course to reach four year high

Analysis by the Scottish Property Federation indicates that the value of Scotland’s commercial property transactions in 2015 rose to £3.5 billion, up from £3.37bn in 2014.

This continues a steady improvement in the value of sales since the low point of 2012 when just £1.5bn was recorded.

Edinburgh boasted the highest value of sales figures, worth £274m, a decrease of -1.4 per cent as the market holds steady.

Aberdeen saw the value of sales increase from £50m in Q3 to £60.5m in Q4, but the value remains much lower than it was in Q3, reflecting the unsteady market following the downturn in the energy industry.

Dundee saw the biggest change in value of sales since Q3, where the total value of sales was £91m, up from £17m in Q3. Glasgow also saw an increase since Q3, from £224m to £200m.

The volume of commercial property transactions across Scotland also saw a quarter on quarter increase of 11.5 per cent, from 1,107 in Q3 2015 to 1,234 in Q4 2015.

BRE supports Scottish Property Awards

BRE Scotland has once again supported the Scottish Property Awards, the national awards programme which recognises excellence in commercial and public property.

This year, the organisation is sponsoring the “Development of the Year” category, and BRE director for Scotland Rufus Logan sat on the judging panel, chaired by Karen Anderson, who is chair of Architecture + Design Scotland.

Winners will be announced at a glittering awards dinner to be held in the Glasgow City Hotel this evening.

The awards, which are now in their third year, have been extended to a total of 16 categories covering the best in development, deals, teams and talent within Scotland.

CMS Window Systems named as a company to inspire Britain

CMS Window Systems has been named in an influential report by the London Stock Exchange as one of the top 1000 most exciting and dynamic businesses in Britain.

The 1000 Companies to Inspire Britain 2016 report, which contains a foreword by Chancellor George Osborne, along with other politicians in the business community, identifies CMS as one of only a handful of companies in the door and window industry that are inspirational in their success to date and growth potential.

London Stock Exchange Group CEO, Xavier Rolet, describes these 1000 businesses as the ‘engine of the UK economy’ because they help create an ‘antifragile’ SME economy which is more robust, more flexible and less prone to boom and bust.

With growth from a £1.4m turnover business to a £35m company employing more than 245 people in just 10 years, CMS has excelled consistently thanks to a sustainable business strategy which delivers a range of high performance building envelope solutions with the flexibility to suit the varied demands of the housing and commercial building sectors.

Funding for low carbon heating

Three innovative heating projects have been awarded £1.75 million by the Scottish Government.

The schemes, in Shetland, Clydebank and Glasgow, will use water source heat pump technology to extract heat from water - even on the coldest days - to supply low carbon heat efficiently.

These are:

New Governance board member at Construction Scotland Innovation Centre

Construction Scotland Innovation Centre has appointed Jo Blewett of Transport Scotland as a new CSIC Governance board member.

Jo has a PhD from Heriot-Watt University and is a chartered civil engineer. She has worked in civil engineering research, private consultancy and the public sector and has been working for Transport Scotland since 2005 on a range of trunk road improvement projects.

Jo is currently the A9 Dualling Programme Manager for Transport Scotland.

£1m funding boost for Falls of Shin visitor centre project

Big Lottery Fund Scotland is awarding more than £1 million to help fund the new Falls of Shin Visitor Centre.

The Falls of Shin Community Project will replace the previous visitor centre destroyed by fire in May 2013, located between Lairg and Bonar Bridge.

The sustainable new building will include a café, shop, toilets, information panels and an outdoor plaza for community events.

Cabinet minister visits GMG Group apprentices

As part of apprentice week celebrations, a group of GMG’s apprentices were doing their bit for the community by assisting a local church clean up and repair some roof tiles as well as a vandalised cemetery cross.

Some of the lads also took the time to show MSP & Cabinet Minister Alex Neil how they and he could fix integrated PV tiles to the GMG training rig.

The minister was interested to hear how they were doing and listened intently as they explained how renewables could help energy efficiency in homes and also help to alleviate fuel poverty.

Alex Neil stated he was most impressed by their efforts and admired the cleaner line obtained with the new integrated tile.

He also took the time to wish the apprentices luck in pursuit of their careers with GMG.

Mactaggart & Mickel Group smashes fundraising target

Mactaggart & Mickel Group has more than doubled its annual fundraising target for charity partner, Cancer Research UK.

The company presented Rowan Main, local corporate & community manager from CRUK, with a cheque for £50,000, more than double the company’s £20,000 target, at its recent Castle Grove showhome opening event in Newton Mearns, to coincide with the celebration of the end of Mactaggart & Mickel Group’s 90th anniversary.

The impressive total was achieved through a range of activities undertaken by the company’s staff including The Great Scottish Run half marathon, a range of 5k races including Race for Life and Pretty Muddy, powering through the Pedal for Scotland circuit and setting up a five-a-side football tournament.

CRUK is the UK’s leading cancer charity, dedicated to funding research into the disease to help with treatment and prevention. The donation from Mactaggart & Mickel Group will be put towards funding research into more than 200 types of cancer.