Building Briefs – March 6th

• £600k building repair work under way in Paisley’s historic quarter

The work was made possible by the Renfrewshire Council-run five-year £4.5 million Townscape Heritage/Conservation Area Regeneration Scheme, which aims to repair historic buildings, shopfronts and outdoor spaces throughout the town centre.

The TH/CARS2 programme is working with the property owners to deliver three projects in the Shuttle Street/George Place area over the next few months.

• More Scottish cities to benefit from full fibre as rollout accelerates

CityFibre, the UK’s third national digital infrastructure platform, has revealed Glasgow and Dundee are set to become the latest Gigabit Cities to benefit from a full fibre network as part of its up to £4 billion Gigabit City Investment Programme, targeting up to 8 million premises in the UK.

In parallel, CityFibre has also accelerated the mobilisation of its network build capabilities, with a process underway to award £1.5bn in construction contracts by the summer and network build brought forward in Glasgow, Dundee and 34 other areas in the UK by the end of the year.

Glasgow and Dundee will each benefit from a future-proof network that will support the digital needs of homes, businesses, next generation mobile networks and public services for generations. Underpinned by a full fibre infrastructure platform, these cities will drive sustainable and inclusive economic growth across  Scotland. supporting the Infrastructure Commission for Scotland’s recommendation full fibre infrastructure for all of Scotland by 2027.

In an acceleration of its plans, CityFibre will shortly be awarding more than £1.5bn in network construction contracts for the newly announced full city builds. Awards will be granted by July, enabling the selected partners to secure and mobilise their workforce in preparation for network construction to begin in nearly all the announced cities by the end of 2020. The 5m home rollout will create more than 5,000 construction jobs across the UK and stimulate local economic growth in the region of £85bn.

• Shepherd bags brace of accolades

Shepherd Chartered Surveyors has bagged a brace of accolades to send shockwaves throughout Scotland’s property market.

This week the firm secured the top spot in Scotland for the first time in the 20 year history of the EG Deals Competition of the UK’s most active agents and was named Surveyor of the Year at The Scottish Mortgage Awards for the second year in succession.

The historic EG Deals Competition win has seen Shepherd overtaking Ryden, the previous incumbent for the past two decades.

In addition to retaining the leading position in the retail and investment sectors from last year’s competition, Shepherd Commercial also performed strongly in the office, industrial and leisure/hotels sectors, demonstrating the comprehensive extent of its levels of activity throughout all sectors of the commercial property sector across Scotland.

Meanwhile, Shepherd was crowned Surveyor of the Year at The Scottish Mortgage Awards, established to recognise the brightest and best operating in the Scottish property and finance market, for the second year in succession.

• Women’s rugby in east Scotland boosted by £2000 CALA Sponsorship

CALA Homes (East) has bolstered its long-term support of Currie Chieftains by extending sponsorship to its emerging and popular women’s and girls’ teams.

For more than eight years, the housebuilder has been lead sponsor for the club, including its successful first team, helping the Balerno-based club bring huge social and sporting value to the surrounding area.

With an inclusive adult women’s team forming for the first time in November 2019, it has now taken the decision to step up with a further dedicated £2000 sponsorship across all its women’s and girls’ teams.

This is enabling the teams to secure their own bespoke kit, while helping with ongoing costs of equipment. In addition, the funding is helping the Malleny Park-based club create more accessible facilities and gym equipment to attract further new members.

While the initial focus for the new women’s team is building the team, fitness and ability of its individuals, they have identified some upcoming friendly competitions that could provide the perfect first taste of competitive rugby.

• East Ayrshire Council to fund more roads and bridges improvements

East Ayrshire Council has set its budget for 2020/21, agreeing funds for roads and bridges improvements.

Councillor Elena Whitham, depute leader, said: “Over the next 10 years, £61m will be spent improving our roads and bridges network, with investment of £8m in each of the next three years.

“£10m is being made available to move care closer to the community with the creation of a new Wellbeing Hub in Kilmarnock Town Centre in collaboration with the NHS to move care closer to the community.

“Our commitment to tackle climate change is clear, with an allocation of £5m towards new energy efficiency and carbon reduction projects; this in addition to the £24.5m we will spend with the UK government to make East Ayrshire a national centre for energy research and development.”

• North Ayrshire Council sets 2020/21 budget

North Ayrshire Council’s 2020/21 budget agreement saw approval for the creation of an £8.8 million investment fund to be invested in environmental and infrastructure projects as well as supporting Community Wealth Building. 

Joe Cullinane, council leader, said: “We’re heading into the second decade of austerity but despite the financial challenges we’re proud to be creating additional jobs while protecting our crucial services. I am particularly pleased that this budget provides investment, through staffing resource and capital funding, to drive forward our exciting Community Wealth Building agenda.”

• West Dunbartonshire Council to fund programme of housing investment with rent increase

A below-inflation rent increase has been agreed by West Dunbartonshire councillors for the third year in a row.

The decision to introduce a 1.9% rise comes following extensive discussions with tenants over the past few months.

The increase in rent will be used to fund an ambitious programme of investment in new and existing homes.

It is expected that more than 350 new homes will be delivered as part of the agreed budget, and work will begin on a range of improvements to enhance existing council properties.

This will include 250 new central heating systems; 400 new roof coverings; 300 window/door renewals; 80 kitchen renewals; 600 electric shower installations, 3000 smoke/fire detector installations and 400 homes getting external insulated rendering.

A decision to increase rents at the Gypsy Travellers site by 1.9% was also approved at the meeting.

• Highland Council agrees road to recovery with 2020/21 budget

The Highland Council agreed its budget for 2020/21 yesterday setting a 4.84% increase in council tax to help support its investment in roads.

Of the rise, 3% will be used to balance the budget and 1.84% for investing in roads. The increase would enable a fund of £20 million for capital schemes and an additional £1.3m of annual revenue for road maintenance.

The council also agreed a proposal to invest £1m of additional funding in a “Highland Deal for a sustainable future” - a Skills for Work Charter which will develop a range of initiatives and opportunities to retain young people, address poverty and reverse depopulation trends in rural areas. A further £0.5m is to be earmarked for rural transport projects.