Building Briefs – May 22nd

The West of Scotland branch of construction industry charity the Lighthouse Club held its annual race night at Hamilton race course on Friday 18th May.

It was a glorious day and 147 guests attended, raising £4,750 for the charity.

Employment found for 64% of Carillion’s former workforce

Secure ongoing employment has now been found for 64% of Carillion’s former workforce after another 19 employees moved to new suppliers in the last week.

The Official Receiver in charge with the company’s liquidation revealed that two staff will be leaving the business this week taking total redundancies to 12% of the pre-liquidation workforce.

In total, to date 11,637 jobs have been saved and 2,303 jobs have been made redundant through the liquidation. A further 1,115 employees have left the business during the liquidation through finding new work, retirement or for other reasons.

Leith Fort shortlisted for Scottish Home Award

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) and the City of Edinburgh Council have been shortlisted for a Scottish Home Award for the new development at Leith Fort.

The ambitious development, including 94 affordable homes, is in the running to clinch the large affordable housing development of the year title.

The affordable homes, which are built on the former 18th century Leith Fort site, welcomed residents last year.

Sixty-two of the colony-style properties are owned by PoLHA for mid-market rent, with 32 units owned by the council for social rent.

The contractor for the development CCG (Scotland) Ltd delivered the project using innovative methods as well as providing various training and employment opportunities to the local community.

The £11.5 million housing development which is co-owned by PoLHA and the City of Edinburgh Council was also shortlisted in RICS, RIAS and Homes for Scotland awards.

Highland Council approves new shopfront design guidance

Highland Council has approved a new guidance on shopfront design.

Members of the council’s environment, development and infrastructure committee have backed a new guidance aimed at ensuring high quality designs for traditional, replacement and new shopfronts throughout the Highlands.

The blueprint sets out general principles for repair, reinstatement and replacement of shopfronts, as well as general principles for new shopfronts in new development. It also considers signage and how good advertising can be accommodated in both traditional and modern shopfronts.

A draft of the proposals went out to public consultation earlier this year and last week members had a chance to review the draft which will now form part of the planning process.

Maintenance work complete at Sullom Voe harbour

Maintenance work has been carried out at Sullom Voe harbour on the Shetland Islands.

New fenders have been installed at jetty number two to accommodate vessels transporting oil from Sullom Voe Terminal.

The scheme was carried out by main contractors Malakoff Limited, with support from Shetland Island Council’s Ports and Harbours staff and marine engineering consultants NIRAS Fraenkel Ltd. The fenders were made in China by Dutch company, Quayquip.

A total of four new rubber cone fenders, each weighing around 18 tonnes, have been fitted to the jetty as part of the life extension work on the harbour infrastructure that was originally built in the late 1970s.

Number of Scottish households up by 6% in a decade

The number of households in Scotland has continued to increase to 2.46 million in 2017, according to figures published today by National Records of Scotland (NRS).

‘Estimates of Households and Dwellings in Scotland, 2017’ shows over the last ten years the number of households in Scotland has grown by around 145,000 (6%).

Over a third of households are single person households, and just over 900,000 people are living alone.

The growth in households is partly due to the rising population, but also because people are increasingly living alone, or with fewer other people. Households consisting of only one person have been the most common type in Scotland since 2010.

The number of households has increased in every council area over the last ten years, with the greatest relative increases occurring in Midlothian and the Orkney Islands.

According to the estimates published today, there were 2.60 million dwellings in Scotland in 2017. Around 3% (79,200 dwellings) were empty, and a further 1% (25,700 dwellings) were second homes.

Empty and second homes are concentrated in different parts of the country. For example, remote rural areas have a higher percentage of empty and second homes than urban areas.

Video showcases opening of revamped Elderpark Housing tenements

Elderpark Housing has released a video to mark the opening of refurbished blocks of flats in Glasgow.

Officially launched by Bailie John Kane earlier this month, the four blocks of flats in Crossloan Road have now been completely modernised including reducing the number of flats from 35 down to 31 by removing a third flat on some of the landings to increase the space for residents.

https://twitter.com/ElderparkHA/status/998875743902892032

Other new features include a utility room in each flat, internal wall insulation, communal wi-fi as standard and a complete makeover of the close and back court areas which retain the existing history.

Publishing the video via his LinkedIn account, Elderpark chief executive Gary Dalziel said: “Thanks to all the participants/contractors/consultants involved in the full tenement refurbishment project and also to Kathleen Little from thirteensquared for her work on this short film.”

Amey continues work on Paisley environmental upgrade

Amey is continuing work on an environmental improvement project in Paisley.

The contractor is building a large interceptor sewer in the town which, once completed, will substantially reduce the frequency of spills from the sewer network into the Espedair Burn and White Cart Water during storm conditions.

The investment is part of Scottish Water’s £250 million five-year programme of work, launched in 2013, to improve river water quality and the natural environment and tackle flooding across the Greater Glasgow area.

Road users are now being advised the next phase of work is underway in Rowan Street. The scheme, which got underway today, 21 May, is expected to take around eight months to complete.

To carry out the works, Scottish Water revealed Rowan Street will be closed between Espedair Street and Rowan Wynd, and parking restrictions will be in place.

The utility added it apologises for any inconvenience caused as a result of this work.