Building Briefs – March 6th

Glasgow Prestwick Airport’s duty free store is getting a complete makeover.

Work has started to redevelop and expand the area to provide customers with a premium airport shopping experience.

The work, which will be completed by the end of May, will increase the square footage of the store by some 15 per cent.

The refurbishment includes expanded fashion, fragrance and cosmetic departments, an improved technology range, new promotional areas and improved lighting and flooring as well as modern fixtures and fittings.

Apartment plans for St Andrews police station site deemed ‘unacceptable’

Construction of flats at the old St Andrews police station has been rejected.

A Scottish Government-appointed reporter threw out an appeal for planning permission to demolish the North Street building and erect 17 apartments.

Sinead Lynch concluded the rear of two blocks proposed would be too high compared with neighbouring buildings.

Fife Council’s north-east planning committee had earlier refused planning permission.

The 1930s police station would have been replaced with a building Ms Lynch reckoned would have been appropriate for the medieval streetscape.

However, the building on the station car park behind would, she said, have been two storeys higher than adjacent buildings in Johnston Court and Culross Court.

Edinburgh rugby academy plans kick off

Under-used outdoor sports facilities in Edinburgh could soon bounce back into play if funding for upgrades to pitch facilities and new courts in Sighthill, Queensferry and Trinity is agreed by councillors.

At a meeting of the Culture & Sport Committee next week (Tuesday 10 March), members will be asked to agree investment of £130,000 into pre-existing rugby and football facilities and new tennis and basketball courts.

The Sport Partnership Projects: capital contributions by Culture and Sport report has outlined a funding package designed to boost participation in outdoor sport in the capital.

Under the proposals, councillors will be asked to allocate £50,000 as the council works in partnership with Scottish Rugby and Edinburgh Napier University to locate the BT Sport Scottish Rugby Academy in Sighthill.

The changing pavilion in Sighthill Park will be upgraded as part of the works being undertaken for the Academy.

Consultation launches for Highland flood scheme

The public is being invited to have their say on the next phase of the Smithton and Culloden Flood Alleviation Scheme.

The Highland Council is launching a consultation on the proposed measures, marking Phase 4 of the scheme. It aims to give stakeholders, community groups and the public the chance to get involved in the design process.

Designs have been drawn up by JBA Consulting for works identified following a public meeting in October 2012.

Included in the proposals are the potential removal of a culvert between Lochlann Court and Redburn Avenue, the creation of flood storage areas in Culloden Park and Smithton Park, the removal of the long culvert beneath Smithton Park and the removal of a long culvert between the railway and Smithton Park.

A drop-in public exhibition will be held on 10 March at Smithton Free Church from 14:00 - 18:30 to let people view the proposals.

Phase 3B works are scheduled to be completed by the end of next week. Work by contractor Pat Munro (Alness) Ltd includes the installation of a new coarse debris screen upstream of the railway culvert at Murray Terrace. It will also involve watercourse remediation to stem erosion upstream of Tower Road and watercourse remediation to stem erosion through the area around the former nursing home, with a new culvert inlet screen upstream of Murray Road.

City of Edinburgh Council chief executive to retire

The chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council has announced she is to retire from local government service.

Dame Sue Bruce informed council leader Andrew Burns and his deputy Steve Cardownie of her plans to leave her post when she turns 60 in October. She will formally give notice at next Thursday’s council meeting. The search for her replacement will begin immediately.

Sue took up her post as chief executive of the City of Edinburgh Council in January 2011 having previously held the same role at both Aberdeen City Council and East Dunbartonshire Council. She began her local government career 39 years ago.

First time buyers ‘finding their feet’ in property market

The number of first time buyers relying on the ‘Bank of Mum and Dad’ for support has dropped significantly, according to new research.

Clydesdale and Yorkshire Banks’ Annual First Time Buyers Survey has revealed that less than half (46 per cent) of the UK’s first time buyers needed help in saving for their deposit in 2014. This compares with 63 per cent in 2013 and more than three quarters (78 per cent) in 2012.

In Scotland, 52 per cent of first time buyers were helped by their parents.

Plans for new school in Tullibody progress

An informal public consultation on three options for a new, purpose-built Abercromby Primary School is set to take place.

The consultation will ask for opinions on three options:

The consultation was agreed by Clackmannanshire Council this week.

The Scottish Government’s Schools for the Future Programme has offered funding for the replacement of Abercromby Primary School, which was built in 1951. The funding would be for up to 50 per cent of the cost, with the council funding the balance, with building expected to be completed by 2020.

The proposals provide an excellent opportunity to bring together education and communities services in a planned way, that take forward the principles of Making Clackmannanshire Better.

Scottish Energy Minister Fergus Ewing opens biomass plant in Fife

A combined heat and power biomass plant on the site of a Fife-based paper maker has been opened by energy minister Fergus Ewing MSP.

Mr Ewing carried out the ceremony at the RWE’s Markinch Biomass plant in Glenrothes.

The state-of-the-art plant replaces the former 1950s coal and gas-fired power station on the site of Tullis Russell.

It represents a reduction in fossil fuel-related carbon dioxide emissions by around 250,000 tonnes per annum,

The new facility is already providing all of Tullis Russell’s electricity and steam requirements, with excess electricity generation being fed into local networks.

Construction on the plant started in 2009 and was fully completed in 2014.