Building Briefs – May 10th

Scarborough Muir Group sells office investment at Queensferry One

Scarborough Muir Group has sold its Aquarius Court office investment at Queensferry One to Hamcap (Strathclyde) BP Ltd for £1.22 million.

The Grade A specified building, developed speculatively by Scarborough Muir, is fully let and occupies a prime location within the £250m Queensferry One development, which spans 120 acres and lies adjacent to Queensferry Crossing on Rosyth’s waterfront.

Aquarius Court, at 17,216 sq ft, is built over two open plan floor plates and is currently occupied by QinetiQ, Parsons Peebles Group, Epoint Embedded Computing and Core Assets Scotland.

New council homes open in Cumbernauld

Cumbernauld was the location for the official opening of North Lanarkshire Council’s latest completed council housing development.

Provost of North Lanarkshire, Councillor Jean Jones, unveiled the plaque at the site of Cardowan Drive, Blackwood, Cumbernauld, marking the completion of thirty new houses. These include a mix of two, three and four bedroom semi-detached homes and one and two bedroom cottage flats.

This is the 19th housing development delivered by the council as part of its NL Homes programme, which will now see the local authority more than double its current commitment of new build homes to 5,000 homes to be built by 2035.

Warmly welcoming tenants, local elected members and guests to the opening was Councillor Allan Graham, convener of enterprise and housing.

Attending were Des Murray, assistant chief executive; Brian Lafferty, head of business; Stephen Llewellyn, head of housing solutions; Pam Humphries, housing development manager, all from the council’s enterprise and housing resources service; local elected member, Councillor Tom Fisher; Scott Mercer, regional commercial director; Steve O’Grady, project manager; Kevin McColgan, regional operations director and Ewan Kelly, assistant site manager, all from developer Lovell Partnerships Ltd.

All the new homes are built with energy efficiency in mind to help minimise running costs for its tenants. In addition, the new builds also boast dementia friendly design features, including contrasting colours between kitchen units and flooring.

They meet Housing for Varying Needs standards and are Secured by Design accredited.

The Scottish Government contributes towards the development costs at each site.

Renfrewshire Council unveils designs for new Johnstone Castle homes

An artist’s impression has been unveiled which showcases what the 95 new build Renfrewshire Council development at Johnstone Castle will look like on completion.

Regeneration work in the area is already underway with demolition work to clear the site for the new energy efficient homes.

The development will feature a mix of mainly two and three bedroom homes and own-door flats, as well as two specially designed bungalows for tenants with mobility requirements.

The regeneration project also features four semi-detached homes with four bedrooms for larger families.

The next phase of work will see vacant properties at Cedar Avenue, Tower Road and Elm Drive taken down.

Construction work on the new housing is expected to start soon by the council’s recommended contractor ENGIE Regeneration Limited, with the first completions due next spring.

The construction costs of almost £13 million will be funded from the council’s housing investment programme and a Scottish Government grant.

Scottish house prices continue to increase

House prices continue to increase across Scotland, despite a dip in prices across the UK, surveyors have reported.

The April 2018 UK Residential Market Survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) found that a net balance of 39% more chartered surveyors reported a rise in prices for homes in Scotland, while the national RICS Price balance slipped to -8% in the latest results, having been flat in February and March.

In Scotland, a net balance of 20% of those surveyed expected property prices to continue to increase over the next few months.

In the lettings market, tenant demand in the three months to April was steady, with a net balance of 6% of respondents reporting an increase in activity.

Landlord instructions coming onto the rental market dipped slightly, with this indicator remaining flat or negative since 2016.

New Grampian Housing Association homes near completion

A new Grampian Housing Association development by Barratt at Kemnay is nearing completion.

The development consists of 16 units - 4x1 bed flats, 4x2 bed houses, 6x3 bed houses, 2x4 bed houses - all set in a rural setting.

Images courtesy of Craig Stirrat on LinkedIn.