Building Briefs – March 9th

FG Burnett, Savills and Shepherds have been appointed to advise on and market the diverse commercial property opportunities at Aberdeen’s newest community.

Following a competitive tendering process, the commercial property agents have been selected to assist in the delivery of the unique retail and commercial spaces to be created at Countesswells.

Each firm will be given specific tasks in the development of the new retail and commercial opportunities. They will also be required to identify and sell these opportunities to potential occupiers.

Countesswells, which represents a £800 million investment in the region, is a new town that will eventually comprise 3,000 homes, two primary schools and an academy, community facilities, retail and businesses, alongside civic spaces and a mix of landscaped and informal green space for around 7,000 people on the 400-acre site.

The development framework sets out a number of retail, commercial, community and educational facilities to serve the new population, and create an attractive location for visitors

The new town is being brought forward by Countesswells Development Limited (CDL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Stewart Milne Group, and backed by an innovative HM Treasury guarantee, which has enabled the up-front investment in and delivery of major infrastructure, including fibre optic cabling which offers the fastest broadband speeds in the country.

As well as a new Town Centre in the heart of the new community, there will also be a secondary neighbourhood centre, with retail and commercial opportunities for the firms to bring forward and deliver alongside the other non-residential elements such as the new health facility and schools. This will include an initial assessment and advising on the scale, design, location, timing and nature of individual development opportunities. The companies will also handle enquiries for retail and commercial floorspace as well as development land, which is already attracting interest from occupiers looking to move into the new community.

Work is about to get underway on the first neighbourhood centre within Countesswells, which has plans for a food store, ancillary food, non-food and service retail units. The neighbourhood centre lies towards the northern part of the site, at the junction of the two new access roads to be built, linking the site with the A944. This will be developed within the next two to three years. Land at this location has also been earmarked for a potential stand-alone office development.

Secondary pupils get first glimpse of Glasgow’s newest student accommodation development

A group of lucky teenagers from King’s Park Secondary School have been given a special tour of the Scotway House student accommodation development as part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week.

Five pupils took part in a tour of the site, which is currently being developed by GRAHAM Construction.

They learnt about the many different job roles working together to complete a construction project, showcasing the industry as a potential career option after they have finished school.

The youngsters also heard from Joe Lambie, project manager on the site, and apprentice Darren McHugh, who told the students about his time in the construction industry.

After leaving school at 17 and completing a vehicle body work repair course at college, Darren joined GRAHAM Construction as a labourer, moving on to a four-year apprenticeship after six months to become a qualified joiner.

Darren has now started a two-year apprenticeship as a trainee planner, attending college once a week to achieve a Higher National Certificate in Construction Management.

Scotway House is a 400 bed student accommodation development comprised of Studio and Cluster rooms across 15 floors.

Upon completion it will contain two restaurants, a library, individual study rooms, a bike storage and wash area as well as external terraced sections.

The B-listed Scotway House building was formerly the Meadowside Shipyard Office, which lay derelict for many years before being decimated by fire in 2016.

The property, built in 1885, was formerly a drawing office for engineers at the shipbuilding firm D&W Henderson.

Plans for several ocean-going liners, including the predecessor to Britannia, the Royal Yacht, were conceived there.

Breathing a new lease of life into the building, GRAHAM Construction is delivering the project on behalf of the Structured House Group and the project is due to finish in August 2019.

Apprentices talk of success at CCG

To celebrate Scottish Apprenticeship Week (5-9 March), trade apprentices from one of Scotland’s largest construction firms talk about their life on the job and their studies.

Declan McAllister and Grant Dolan are part of a 71-strong group of trade apprentices that have embarked on a career path with Glasgow-based construction company, CCG (Scotland) Ltd.

The specialist firm offers a wide range of opportunities including plumbing, bricklaying and joinery trades as well as modern apprentice roles in administration, quantity surveying, health and safety and buying amongst others.

Declan, 21, is learning to become a bricklayer and is in his fourth and final year as a trade apprentice.

Grant Dolan, 20, is in his second year as a bricklayer who balances his time at Glasgow Kelvin College and on site based alongside Declan at an affordable housing development in the south side of Glasgow.

CCG is a provider of job opportunities and training and apprenticeship programmes. The business has 600 staff across a Group of five companies comprising construction, off-site manufacturing, timber window and doors manufacturing, planned maintenance and mechanical and electrical servicing.

In 2017, the CCG Group recruited 22 trade apprentices. Building on this in 2018, the business is committed to at least 15 trade apprentices and 16 management, professional and administration trainees.

McTaggart Group promotes its ‘Pride and Joy’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YIz2sOt_k4E&t=3s

As part of National Apprenticeship Week 2018, McTaggart Group has taken part in a Go Construct campaign which aims to encourage parents to consider construction as a positive career for their children.

Three members of McTaggart Group’s staff, including two apprentices, were filmed taking their parents to work and showing them what they do. Lori Shearer, an apprentice electrician with ABN Services, McTaggart’s plumbing, heating and electrical contracting business and Andrew Marshall, an apprentice bricklayer with McTaggart Construction, demonstrated what they’ve learned so far and the skills they now have.

Gary Climson, McTaggart’s managing director, said: “Promoting construction as a positive destination for young people is critical to ensure our industry has enough skilled resource, both now and in the future. We are delighted to be part of this campaign as we invest which targets parents who may not have considered it, particularly if they don’t work in construction themselves.”

The video is available on Go Construct’s YouTube channel and social media channels.

North Muirton pupils scoop World Book Day prize

Pupils from a local primary school have taken part in a World Book Day competition, run by regeneration firm Urban Union, celebrating the Muirton community.

School children from Primary 1 – Primary 7 at North Muirton Primary School were tasked to write a short story on the local area and what it means to them. Over 100 pupils entered and judges, Urban Union, selected the best three stories with their authors receiving book vouchers for their efforts.

Leah Phillips (P3) and Elizabeth Edgar (P4) were joint winners of the competition, with their poem which focused on their favourite part of living in Muirton. The highlights of the poem included the new park, visits from the ice cream van as well as all the shops and eateries in the area.

Second place was awarded to Daniel Taylor of P2, who accompanied his story with a picture of him playing football in the park. While Ellie McLaren (P5) scooped third place for her short story about Muirton’s secret woods.

Places for People asset management business to launch £550m build-to-rent fund

A fund management arm set up by Places for People has set up a £550 million fund to target opportunities in the build-to-rent (BTR) sector across the UK.

It is hoped that the fund will help deliver 3,000 new homes.

PfP Capital said the fund will be seeded with three major residential development schemes across the UK, valued at £150m, which will be forward-funded through a special purpose vehicle, prior to introducing long-term capital through the fund.

Places for People became the first housing association to establish a distinct fund management capability with the launch PfP Capital last year.

Alex Notay, a director of product and service innovation at Places for People, will move across to manage the new fund.

Schemes to help stop flooding in Aberdeen

Construction on a new project, which is one of four around the Den Burn area in Aberdeen designed to help save houses and businesses in the neighbourhood and further downstream from being flooded, is starting within a month.

Aberdeen City Council is leading on the flood management and wetlands scheme at the Maidencraig, an area which was affected by flooding this week.

The scheme, which has BEGIN European funding from Intereg and a contribution from Bancon Homes, will create a new path between the Maidencraig housing development and Hazlehead which will be a raised path on a safe route to school, reduce the flood risk downstream, and create a new home for nature by forming a wetlands area.

The work includes the creation of a new path, construction of earth banks, relocation and opening-up of the tributary burn to create space for nature, installing new lighting, and replacing the temporary bridge over the Den Burn.

The path will be built on top of an earth bank of up to 2m high and will be about 5m wide, with shallow sloping sides. In order to safeguard properties downstream from flooding, the bank has also been designed to hold water back in storm events to a depth of up to 1m, and this will be achieved by replacing the temporary bridge with a new one and installing a large drainage pipe underneath. This aims to slow the flow of water in the Den Burn, allowing it to temporarily flood across the boggy area of the Den of Maidencraig during storms.

Temporary path routes around the site are to be put in place for you over the course of the works. The tributary burn coming off the hillside at the Lang Stracht is to be moved and opened up to improve the habitat for wildlife.

The Maidencraig project fits in with other similar flood alleviation, path and environmental schemes in the area, and the work stems from computer modelling carried out after the Den Burn flooded in previous years which pinpointed several areas which could be used to capture the extra water and hold it safely.

The other schemes to be build are Summerhill Swale & Miniature Wetland, and Fernielea School Sustainable Drainage (SuDS) Scheme, and a scheme at Stronsay Park was built in 2015, and these are designed to flood and store water during storms to protect properties downstream, and also have environmental improvements. Stronsay Park holds more than 30,000m³ of water, which is the equivalent of 80 swimming pools, and was the first of the schemes around the Den Burn to be constructed.

SELECT reaches out to wider social media sphere with introduction of new Facebook page

SELECT, the campaigning trade body for Scotland’s electrical sector, is widening its social media reach and strengthening its communications strategy with the introduction of a new Facebook page.

The new page will increase SELECT’s contact with its 1250 member companies and the 15,000 people employed by them, but also provide a great platform to interact with other Facebook users.

SELECT already has a strong presence and following on social media platforms such as Twitter and posts a huge variety of relevant information in video form on YouTube. Facebook will complement and enhance these activities.

GRAHAM Construction builds rapport with primary students

GRAHAM Construction has teamed up with St John’s Primary School in Edinburgh, in a bid to encourage more children to consider construction as a future career option, as part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week 2018.

More than 150 primary five to seven pupils, attended the event on Wednesday 7 March, hosted by four members of the GRAHAM Construction team.

The ‘My World of Work’ event was made up of workshops and activities designed to teach the students about the various roles within the industry.

The team was made up of an apprentice engineer, a planner, a quantity surveyor and a community benefits advisor– each giving the students an overview of their role and outlining the importance of these position when building a school.

The pupils, in groups of 12, made their way through each activity, working closely with the GRAHAM employees, asking questions about the industry along the way.

The new two-storey St John’s Primary School is being built on the site of the former Portobello High School in Edinburgh, and will provide accommodation for 15 purpose-built classrooms, a general purpose classroom, social space and excellent sporting facilities.

The £10 million project which started in June 2017 is planned to complete Summer 2018.

GRAHAM Construction was successfully appointed to Lots 7 and 8 of the four-year framework in December 2016. The City of Edinburgh Council awarded GRAHAM Construction the first project to be announced within Lot 8 of the council’s £223m Contractor Works Framework.

Later in the month, GRAHAM Construction is set to sponsor Waid Academy in Fife, to take part in the Go4Set project, a scheme that aims to inspire secondary school pupils to pursue vital careers in STEM subjects.

As part of this challenge, a team of pupils will work together to design a model for a sustainability project.

The students will also attend an industry visit to the University of St. Andrews, where GRAHAM Construction is refurbishing the University’s Andrew Melville Hall.