Building Briefs – March 4th

• CMS wins Scotland Excel award for excellence in public sector partnering

The highly respected Supplier Excellence Awards take place every two years and are organised by Scotland Excel, a Scottish Government-recognised centre of procurement expertise, providing a non-profit shared service funded by Scotland’s 32 local authorities.

CMS has been awarded onto Scotland Excel’s framework for replacement windows and doors since 2017, providing the public sector with sustainable solutions with assured quality and service for refurbishment and new build projects.

In winning the Partnership Working award, CMS has successfully demonstrated how its approach to contracts mirrors the ethos of Scotland Excel, who believe that partnerships can create mutually beneficial relationships between the public sector and suppliers to deliver better services and outcomes.

• New College Lanarkshire named best training provider for digital construction

New College Lanarkshire has been named the best training provider of Building Information Modelling (BIM) at a prestigious industry awards ceremony – thanks to the efforts of the Architectural Technology team.

The College won Best BIM Training Programme in the BIM Awards 2020, which honours innovators and pioneers of digital construction from across the UK.  

They beat stiff competition from industry giants Alan Johnstone Partnership LLP and Buro Happold Engineering for the prize, which celebrates the delivery and results of the training programme.

The award was announced by awards host Timandra Harkness, presenter of BBC Radio 4 series, FutureProofing and How to Disagree. Michael was presented the award from Robert Hine from the BSI (British Standards Institution).

A recent graduate of HND Computer Aided Architectural Design and Technology (CAADT) was also celebrated at the awards, winning the highly commended prize in the BIM Rising Star accolade.

Patrycja Wisniewski from Wishaw studied at the Motherwell Campus for three years after returning to education following the birth of her daughter – and is now employed as a trainee civil and structural technician with BakerHicks.

• Specialists to fix Ellon Community Campus snagging issues

Specialists will be appointed in order to fix ongoing issues with Ellon Community Campus.

At a meeting of Aberdeenshire Council’s Formartine area committee, councillors discussed a report which detailed the issues that have been in place since the campus opened in 2015. A number of defects have been discussed with the original contractor, including the condition of the playing fields and drainage issues.

The playing field issue means the pitches have only been in use intermittently since opening, and the council have had to work to provide alternatives in the Ellon community.

Area committee members agreed to engage a specialist consultant to carry out a programme of work on the playing fields. Members agreed to fund the work to fix the defects to the pitches.

The agreement could see the defect works undertaken later this summer.

• ESPC: Property selling prices rise in Scotland as more homes come to market

Property selling prices are rising in Scotland as an increasing number of homes go on the market, according to the latest ESPC data.

Over the past three months, the average property selling price in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was £250,603, a 5.2% increase compared to the previous year. In Edinburgh, the average selling price rose by 4.4% to £267,286.

Properties in the north of the city saw the greatest growth in average selling prices, rising by 9.8% to £299,102.

Within the capital, three-bedroom houses in Blackhall, Davidsons Mains and Silverknowes saw the largest increase in average property price compared to other property types, rising by 52.2% to £475,461. While this increase appears very significant, it is due to the fact that some of the properties sold were of a much higher value, resulting in the average price being pushed up.

Properties in West Lothian saw a large year-on-year increase in average selling price over the last three months, rising by 18.2% to £219,597, while the average selling price of properties in East Lothian rose by 16.6% to £256,073.

In the Borders, the average property selling price was £217,282, a 6.1% increase compared to the previous year, while properties in Midlothian saw a 4.5% increase, rising to £217,813. In West Fife & Kinross, the average property selling price rose by 1.6% but in Dunfermline it decreased by 1.5%. In East Fife, the average property selling price dipped by 0.3% compared to the previous year.

From December 2019 to February 2020, the property sales volume in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and Borders decreased by 4.7% compared to the previous year. However, the volume of homes coming to market increased by 3.6%. In Edinburgh, the property sales volume decreased by 7.5% while the number of homes coming to market increased by 0.4%.

In some areas outwith the capital, there was a significant increase in homes coming to market. In East Lothian, the number of properties coming to market rose by 12.4% year-on-year while in West Fife and Kinross, the number of new property listings rose by 26.3% year-on-year.

It is perhaps unsurprising therefore that three bedroom houses in Dunfermline achieved the highest sales volume of any property type in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders in this timeframe. This was followed by two-bedroom and one-bedroom flats in Leith.

Across all areas over the last three months, the median time for a property to go under offer was 26 days which was one day faster than last year. In Edinburgh, this figure was 23 days, one day faster than last year.

Properties in the Borders saw a significant decrease in selling time, with the median time for a property to be placed under offer at 43 days, a decrease of 27 days compared to the previous year.

Three-bedroom houses in South Queensferry and Dalmeny boasted the shortest selling time of any property type at 14 days, which was 39 days faster than last year.

Between December 2019 and February 2020, the average percentage of Home Report valuation attained in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was 102.1% compared to 102.4% last year. In Edinburgh, the average percentage attained was 103.4% compared to 103.7% last year.

Two-bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa achieved the highest percentage of Home Report valuation on average, at 110.3% compared to 108.6% the previous year.

• Free property repairs and maintenance event in Hawick

Hawick has many traditional buildings, and as part of the ongoing Hawick Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme (CARS) a free event is being held next week to help inform property owners how to keep their buildings safe and well maintained.

The traditional building repair and maintenance talk will take place at 7pm on Wednesday 11 March at the auditorium in the Heart of Hawick.

Information will be provided on common problems found in traditional buildings, how these can be addressed, and also advice on how to assess properties and set up regular maintenance programmes.

The event is free to attend and no registration is required. For more information, contact Colin Gilmour on 01835 825563 or email hawickcars@scotborders.gov.uk.

• Moray Council budget agreement sees £42m invested in capital projects

Moray Council has set its budget for 2020/21.

Over £42m will be invested in capital projects in 2020/21, including new-build and school refurbishments, harbours, road improvements, waste management, bridges and economic development.