Building Briefs – March 8th

Plans have been lodged to Dundee City Council to build new flats on a main road in Broughty Ferry.

The proposal by Arktx is to build eight flats just off Camphill Road and facing onto Queen Street.

Six of them will be completely new build properties with the other two being renovated within an existing property.

If the plans are accepted the new build will reside between the Broughty Ferry Library and a former church, now the Gulistan Indian restaurant.

With the prospective plans being within the Forthill conservation area, the architects have ensured their designs will fit the surroundings and both the library and old church building will remain prominent.

Preferred route on display for quarter of A9 Dualling programme

The proposed road alignment and junctions for over 33 km of the 129km A9 Dualling programme went on public display today.

A series of public engagement events are being held for three of the twelve sections of road to be dualled – Killiecrankie to Pitagowan, Pitagowan to Glen Garry and Dalwhinnie to Crubenmore.

Transport Scotland also intend combining the two southern section schemes stretching over 22 km from Killiecrankie to Glen Garry, for the next stage of detailed design. This will ensure that as we further develop the design for this combined scheme we consider the safety benefits including from the proposed junctions as well as the overall effect of dualling for local residents and the environment.

Property sales exceed £16.5bn

Residential property sales exceeded £16.5 billion in 2015, according to statistics published today by Registers of Scotland (RoS).

A total of 97,701 sales took place across Scotland in 2015, the highest annual figure since 2008, and an increase of 4.5 per cent compared to the previous year.

The City of Edinburgh had the largest volume of sales, achieving 11,991 sales in 2015, up 8.3 per cent on 2014. This was closely followed by Glasgow City, up 12.2 per cent to 11,616. East Renfrewshire experienced the largest annual growth in the volume of sales, with a 13.1 per cent increase to 1,861. Aberdeenshire saw the largest decrease in volumes, down 11.8 per cent to 5,108.

The average price of a residential property rose in 2015, up 3.6 per cent to £169,402. The local authority area with the highest average price was the City of Edinburgh, where the average price for the year was £238,036, an increase of 4.9% on 2014. The highest annual change in average price was in West Lothian, rising 9.1 per cent to £161,014 in 2015. The only local authority area to show a slight decrease in average price was East Renfrewshire, down 0.6 per cent to £227,369.

While the average price for all property types increased in 2015, semi-detached houses showed the largest rise in price, up 3.4 per cent to £157,995. Detached properties had the highest average price at £249,921.

Flatted properties have the highest volume share, claiming 36.2 per cent of the total market. The lowest share of the market was semi-detached houses, with 17,974 transactions accounting for 18.4 per cent of the market.

New Kingdom homes completed in Tullibody

The first tenants are moving in to the latest housing development to be completed by Kingdom Housing Association in Clackmannanshire.

The £2.9 million project has delivered 27 new social rented homes to Delph Road in Tullibody, on the southern part of the former Tullis Tannery site.

Designed by Bracewell Stirling Architects and built by Campion Homes Ltd, the mix of 1, 2 and 3 bedroom properties homes have achieved various accreditation standards including Housing for Varying Needs; Secured by Design; and Building Controls Silver Standard of Sustainability.

The development is the second project to be completed by Kingdom Housing Association in Clackmannanshire through its partnership with Clackmannanshire Council.

The Scottish Government provided a subsidy grant of around £1.7m to support the project.

As part of this project, Kingdom has been able to provide community benefits through school projects and construction training placements. The project is located near the Delph pond and Kingdom has made a donation to the Delph Pond Forum to enable the local group to contribute to the costs of a new woodland path for community use.

Kingdom are also providing development services to the council for a project in Tillicoultry, which is on site and will provide 21 new council homes when it competes May 2016.

The Association also has plans to start on site at Primrose Place, Alloa next year to provide 16 further new homes.

Dundee set to approve £3.5m investment in council housing

More than £3.5 million of improvement works to council houses across Dundee could be given the go ahead by councillors next week.

Tenders for new heating and boiler systems in almost 1000 homes will be discussed by Dundee City Council’s housing committee.

More than 850 houses in Charleston, Mill o’Mains, Clepington, Craigiebank, Douglas, St Mary’s, Craigie, Coldside and Clement Park will have their heating systems renewed if the tenders are agreed.

Some of the homes, which currently have electric heating, will have that replaced with gas, while those on gas will have updated fuel efficient systems fitted.

If the work is agreed by the committee, which meets on March 14, it will start next month and continue in phases throughout the financial year.

Meanwhile a £500,000 contract to install heating, kitchens and bathrooms has been extended.

The city council’s housing stock met the Scottish Housing Quality Standard (SHQS) in time for the March 31 2015 deadline after a massive cash injection by the council of £157m over more than a decade.

However at that time a number of exceptions were allowed because of disproportionate cost, technical or social reasons.

Bellway Homes celebrates considerate milestone

Bellway Homes Limited has been recognised for its long-term commitment to improving the image of the construction industry.

The company, which has been in business for over 70 years, reached its 500th client registration with the Considerate Constructors Scheme for the latest phases of The Pavilions development, in Tottenham Hale.

A pioneer of considerate construction, Bellway Homes led the way as one of the first housebuilders to register with the Scheme, in 1998. Since then, Bellway Homes has won seven Considerate Constructors Scheme National Site Awards.

This year will be no exception, with Bellway short-listed for yet more National Site Awards. The Award categories are Bronze, Silver, Gold, Runner-up to Most Considerate Site, and Most Considerate Site. The awards ceremony takes place next month.

Work to start on Cullen footbridge

Work is about to get under way on the installation of a new footbridge over the Burn of Cullen on the western outskirts of the coastal town.

It will be located several metres upstream of the existing pedestrian bridge at Seatown.

The replacement bridge will also be approximately one metre higher to reduce the risk of flooding at high tide.

The bridge is the only safe pedestrian access between Seatown and the beach car park and golf club.

It was built by Cullen Town Council in the 1930s but is now in very poor condition.

The existing bridge will remain in use until work on the replacement is completed in July, following which it will be demolished.

The new bridge will have a steel superstructure and timber decking and the work, which will be carried out by Balfour Beatty Construction Services, will also include support structures, the diversion of water and electricity supplies, an extension to the seawall and tarmac footways.

Aberdeen Bay offshore wind farm works under way

Site investigations for a planned wind farm off Aberdeen have begun.

Developers hope to site 11 turbines off the coast, with full offshore construction scheduled to start in late 2017 or early 2018.

The European Offshore Wind Deployment Centre (EOWDC) has been opposed by US presidential hopeful Donald Trump because it is close to his golfing development at Menie.

Geotechnical site investigation will take place at each turbine location.

Vattenfall and Aberdeen Renewable Energy Group (AREG) - the partners behind Aberdeen Offshore Wind Farm Limited (AOWFL) - said the work keeps the scheme on schedule.

Mr Trump’s legal challenge to the offshore wind farm was rejected by the UK’s Supreme Court in December.

The businessman was taking on the Scottish Government, which approved the plan.

He said the turbines would spoil the view.

Mr Trump made a series of legal challenges in the Scottish courts and then took the fight to the UK’s Supreme Court in London.

New homes bring colour to Cumbernauld

A housing project which brings colour to Cumbernauld is proving popular with residents.

Sanctuary’s £4.3 million Ochilview Court development was built on the site of a former nursing home in Seafar by Cruden Buildings and Renewals Limited.

Most of the 39 flats off Hume Road were handed over to occupants of Hume Road’s high-rise blocks.

Ochilview Court was built in partnership with North Lanarkshire Council and the Scottish Government, thanks in part to a £2.9 million grant.

The development has 22 flats for rent and 17 for shared equity sale.

Blair House and Scott House will be the only Hume Road high-rises still standing after Drummond House’s demolition later this year. All three blocks will eventually be replaced with further affordable housing as Sanctuary’s regeneration project continues.