Building Briefs – November 10th

Planners have given their consent to a three storey research and office building for Heriot Watt University and the British Geological Survey on the institution’s Riccarton campus, Edinburgh.

Designed by Page\Park, Arups and Ian White Associates the research hub will host its own aquarium, open plan laboratories and a 3D visualization room around a rear courtyard of grassed terraces.

Stevenswood sees window of opportunity in England

A window manufacturer is looking to expand south of the Border after a second year of double-digit sales growth saw it break through the £10 million barrier.

The expansion follows the opening of a new factory by Livingston-based Stevenswood, which also makes doors, kitchens, bathrooms and conservatories for the trade and DIY market. The new 55,000sq ft site at Houston Industrial Estate will allow the company to increase production.

Set up in 1997 by Ron Hepburn and Dave Flynn, Stevenswood currently employs more than 100 people. Sales have grown by at least 24 per cent in each of the last two years, taking the latest turnover figure to £10.8m.

Plans to turn Wallace Craigie Works into 100 flats

Alterations to plans to transform the Wallace Craigie Works into 100 flats have been lodged with Dundee City Council by Craigie Estates Limited.

The plans propose conversion of the category B-listed Mill building into 32 residences as well as the demolition of some listed structures on the site to make way for new construction, different to plans that were granted approval in 2012.

A separate listed building consent lodged concurrently with the planning application lists the demolition of two non-listed structures on the site, a former office building and the extension to the main mill building.

The Wallace Craigie Works on Broughty Ferry Road date back to 1935 but fell into decay recently.

CKD Galbraith boosts Edinburgh team

Property consultancy CKD Galbraith has appointed Jennifer Campbell to head the residential department in the firm’s Edinburgh office.

Jennifer will handle the office’s growing property portfolio and oversee Edinburgh’s expanding team of experienced agents.

Wheatley awarded ‘stable’ credit rating ahead of bid for new-build funding

Wheatley Group has welcomed a positive credit rating from Standard & Poor’s as a vote of confidence in its bid to secure funding for an ambitious new-build programme.

The agency assigned its ‘AA-’ long-term stable issuer credit ratings to both Wheatley and to its subsidiary Glasgow Housing Association (GHA)

Wheatley, Scotland’s largest housing, care and regeneration organisation with 46,000 homes, aims to raise capital to part-fund its plans to increase the supply of affordable housing across Central Scotland by building thousands more homes in its communities.

£20m earmarked for new Dundee elderly care centre

Scottish Government funding has been secured to support the build of a new community care centre in Dundee.

The £20 million investment is part of a larger £409m health infrastructure package, which will roll out across Scotland and now extends through to 2019-20.

The new centre in Dundee will follow on from recently improved services in the area, including the Kingsway Care Centre which opened in 2013, providing 62 in-patient beds and a day clinic for 15 patients.

The funding has also been made available to enhance the in-patient facilities at Carseview Mental Health Centre in Dundee as part of an overall programme of improvement in mental health services.

Other developments in the area include new facilities for the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, currently under construction in Dundee and due for completion in March 2015.

The NPD model has been developed by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) which has been set up by the Scottish Government to support infrastructure investment in Scotland.

Plan to replace Strontian Primary School in Ardnamurchan

Highland Council has set out plans to replace one of Scotland’s most remote schools.

Strontian Primary in Strontian in the north west Highlands was built in the mid-1970s and takes pupils from the Ardnamurchan and Morvern peninsulas.

Councillors will be asked a meeting next week to agree that the school be accommodated in new units at the village’s Ardnamurchan High School.

The proposal would cost about £1.16m, council officers have said.

The 1970s building forms part of a wider complex, that includes the village hall.

Council officers said the local authority would work with the community to explore the future use and ownership of the hall.

Work starts to expand parking at Lockerbie station

Work on an extension to car parking facilities at Lockerbie Station gets underway today.

The works, commissioned by the South West of Scotland Transport Partnership, SWestrans, and managed by the Dumfries and Galloway Council’s DGFirst department, which are scheduled to last for approximately eight weeks, will initially create an additional 31 parking spaces at a site beside the British Legion building on Well Road.

Fibre broadband reaches 150,000 homes and businesses

A total of 150,000 homes and businesses in communities across Scotland, including 30,000 in the Highlands and Islands, can now benefit from fibre broadband thanks to the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband partnership.

Fibre broadband delivered through the £410 million Digital Scotland rollout is now live in more than 120 locations. They include Kemnay in Aberdeenshire, Scone in Perthshire, Sumburgh on Shetland, Leuchars in Fife, Milton of Leys in Inverness and Selkirk in the Scottish Borders.

The 150,000 households and businesses can now access broadband services at speeds of up to 80Mbps. More premises will be able to connect as engineers from BT’s local network business, Openreach, continue work on local upgrades.

Locals fear Dysart harbour will crumble into the sea

A former Fife whaling harbour is being left to crumble into the sea due to a lack of public funding.

Cracks and holes have appeared in the pier at Dysart Harbour, which dates to the 15th century.

Billy Shields, commodore of Dysart Sailing Club, said the picturesque port is in danger of crumbling away and voiced fears over its future.

Plans for a Fife Council-led £6.5 million reconstruction project at the site were taken off the table during the recession and club members are now calling for urgent action.

Confirming there are no funds currently available for reconstruction, Derek Crowe from the local authority’s engineering services division, said efforts to protect the pier would be made.