Building Briefs – May 5th

Our Enterprise’s plans are taking shape for a new creative hub in Dundee to retain graduates and encourage entrepreneurial flair in the city.

Inspired by the arrival of the V&A museum and the ambitious Waterfront regeneration project, the hub will offer young entrepreneurs the chance to work, stay and play in this state of the art development.

At the heart of the project is a Design, Make and Sell studio space to nurture new talent and attract thriving enterprises.

It is hoped the collaborative workspace will create a new community and a place young designers and entrepreneurs want to be.

The scheme also includes one of Scotland’s first private rented sector developments. Aimed at 20 - 30 year olds, the studio and two bedroom apartments will be built directly above the hub.

Our Enterprise is hoping to work and build relationships with the creative and digital community in Dundee.

They recently held an event to introduce the project and exchange ideas with representatives from the creative community, digital businesses, the Universities Dundee Centre for Contemporary Arts, the Science Centre and the V&A.

Our Enterprise is keen to discuss the project with others before putting in a planning application for the work later this year.

The proposal will go back to Dundee City Council in the autumn of this year for their consideration and Our Enterprise will be submitting a planning application by the end of this year.

It is hoped building work will start on the project in 2017 with completion due in late summer 2018.

Ceremony to welcome new joint faith school campus

A ceremony using symbolic stones has taken place at the site where a new joint faith school campus is being built.

Representatives of the Jewish and Catholic communities delivered the joint blessing where the building will be constructed in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire.

The £18.2 million campus is a replacement for the existing Jewish school Calderwood Lodge and an additional primary for the Catholic community.

Council bosses said the new facility will reflect the identities of both faiths, while providing shared spaces for social interaction revolving around a joint interactive zone at the centre of the building.

New luxury hotel opens in restored castle

Dancers from Scottish Ballet took time out from their current Swan Lake tour to mark the grand opening of Crossbasket Castle, a new five-star luxury hotel in Lanarkshire.

The castle, in Blantyre, has been rescued from ruin in 2011 by local businessman Steve Timoney and his wife Alison Reid-Timoney, who have invested more than £9 million restoring it to its former glory.

Housing plans are rejected for Edinburgh allotments site

Plans to build dozens of new homes on the site of historic Edinburgh allotments have been rejected.

Green-fingered residents have tended allotments at Telferton, between Craigentinny and Portobello, for more than 90 years. But Avant Homes, which owns the land, wanted to construct flats and houses on the site- currently designated “open land” in the council’s city-wide planning blueprint.

Scotland TranServ to begin £470,000 road maintenance project

A £470,000 road maintenance programme is to begin on the A76 in Dumfries and Galloway.

Scotland TranServ will begin resurfacing over 1.8km of the road north of Sanquhar from Friday, 06 May.

Works will take place between Knockenjig and Kirkconnel and Whitehill to Gateside House.

Planning for Portgordon’s future

People living in Portgordon are being invited to help map out the future of their village.

A group of local volunteers are working to bring about an innovative and inclusive planning project for the community.

And they are looking for input from people of all ages to create a vision of what Portgordon might look like in the years to come.

Supported by Moray Council and using a nationally recognised planning process called Planning for Real®, the volunteers are urging villagers to become involved by putting forward their ideas and suggestions which will inform an action plan for the community.

A large 3D scale model of Portgordon is being constructed and will be used as a visual aid to steer discussion about how the village could look by 2020 and beyond.