Building Briefs – November 14th

Council to invest over £7m to build 120 new East Renfrewshire homes

Plans have been unveiled to build 120 new affordable homes in East Renfrewshire over the next three to five years.

Homes will be built in Barrhead and Newton Mearns after the proposals were approved by councillors at an East Renfrewshire Council cabinet meeting last week.

In addition to an investment of around £7.3m from the council, grants from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme will fund these projects.

A mixture of house types and sizes will be developed to meet local demand, following years of reducing levels of housing stock as a result of the Right to Buy policy.

The homes will initially be built on vacant land at Blackbyres Road, Cross Arthurlie Street, Fenwick Drive and Balgraystone Road, in Barrhead, with work expected to get under way next year. In Newton Mearns sites will be developed at Ayr Road and Maidenhill.

It is also thought that the total number of homes eventually built could increase, depending on the level of grant funding secured from the Scottish Government.

All of the new homes will be built to a higher level of energy efficiency, meaning they will release less carbon dioxide than the average home and use less energy to heat the rooms and water supply - allowing residents to make significant savings on household bills.

This programme of work is part of the council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan, launched last year, which will see a total of £10.4m invested into building more than 200 new homes for social rent by 2020.

Self-guided tour of Dundee’s architectural highlights

A new self-guided walking trail, highlighting the buildings which have most affected Dundee’s past, present and future, will launch later this week.

Leaflets for the trail will be made available on Friday night, as part of the Festival of Architecture finale and Light Night celebrations.

The tour, created in partnership between the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland (RIAS) and Dundee One City Many Discoveries, lasts around 45 minutes and covers most of the city centre.

The tour visits locations including Malmaison, St Paul’s Cathedral, Dundee Central Mosque and The McManus.

The launch will be held on Castle Street at 4pm on Friday.

The leaflets will then be made available after the event at a location yet to be confirmed.

ACHA completes 10 more homes in Connel

Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) has completed 10 new homes in Connel near Oban.

The development provides a mixture of family homes for rent and will be named after the late Harry Powell, who passed away this year and was a stalwart of the local community, giving over 50 years voluntary service to the village.

Harry’s selection came from the local children at the Achaleven Primary School in the village in recognition of his work for the community.

The 10 homes were officially opened by Brendan O’Hara, MP for Argyll and Bute, along with children from Achaleven Primary School. The development was built by M & K MacLeod of Lochgilphead and around 35 tradesmen, including apprentices, were employed on the site during the construction phase.

Funding for the development, which cost £1.5 million, came from the Scottish Government, ACHA and Argyll and Bute Council.

The 10 new homes bring to 18 the number ACHA have built on the site next to Connel bridge in the last two years. The Association has just gone on site with a further 10 which it hopes to complete by the autumn of 2017.

hub West Scotland delivers work experience for female students

hub West Scotland has worked in partnership with Building Futures to facilitate a number of work experience placements for female construction students.

The move was part of a training programme for would-be building craft apprentices.

The eight week training programme was organised by Building Futures, a social enterprise whose aim is to increase women’s participation and employment prospects in the construction industry. hub West Scotland delivered the work placements across a variety of its construction projects in partnership with their supply chain members, BAM Construction, CBC, Clark Contracts, Lend Lease and Morgan Sindall.

The pre-apprenticeship course provides female students with training in various subjects including carpentry and joinery, traditional boatbuilding, welding; stonemasonry as well as the industry recognised health and safety Construction Skills Certification Scheme.

Decommissioning facility set for Port of Dundee

A decommisioning waste management facility is to be opened at the Port of Dundee in a joint venture between Forth Ports and Augean North Sea Services (ANSS).

Forth Ports chief executive Charles Hammond has previously set out ambitions for Port of Dundee to attract North Sea decommissioning and offshore wind energy-related activity, and the partnership with ANSS will enable the port to offer an integrated service to the decommissioning market.

The 25,000sq ft facility will open in early 2017, helping deliver further growth to the port, which has estimated that the economic benefits of its activities support 680 jobs and adds £32m in gross value added.

New look and new name for Greenock tower block

River Clyde Homes is unveiling a new look for Cartsdyke Apartments, the 12-storey block in the east end of Greenock.

Not only is there a new look and a new name, but it’s being given a new purpose as it becomes the latest addition to the housing association’s Silver Living stock. Silver Living is designed for the over 60s and offers independent living with peace of mind and added security features.

Cartsdyke Apartments have benefitted from a £2 million facelift including new insulation, triple glazed windows and a new eco-friendly, energy efficient heating system. In addition the foyer and landings have been revamped to provide a welcoming environment. A new CCTV system and door entry has been installed to provide a secure living environment.

Fresh call for entrepreneurs to join Dundee Waterfront

A fresh call for more businesses and entrepreneurs to invest in Dundee Waterfront in advance of the opening of the V&A Museum of Design Dundee will be made next week at investment roadshows in Edinburgh and Glasgow.

Several hundred thousand extra visitors are expected in Dundee each year following the opening of the V&A Museum in 2018.

Dundee’s £1 billion Waterfront project is keen to encourage more developers and investors to take advantage of the business opportunities that are already emerging.

In addition to the £80m V&A Museum of Design Dundee, other major investments driving the development of the Waterfront economy include a new railway station with hotel and retail space, the expansion of Dundee Port, and the creation of a new marina. The Scottish Government is also investing £63m of growth funding under the Growth Accelerator Model (GAM).

Committed investment in the Waterfront project has now passed £750m, and includes 5 five flagship private sector investments announced earlier this year, and the opening by the Queen of a new city centre park, Slessor Gardens. Around 156,000 square metres of prime land in the central waterfront is now ‘shovel ready’ and available for mixed use development.

The roadshows are being hosted on Thursday 23rd November by commercial law firm MacRoberts.

Tickets can be requested at info@dundeewaterfront.com

HHP wins funding for insulation works

Hebridean Housing Partnership (HHP) has been awarded £340k from the Scottish Government as part of the Home Energy Efficiency Programmes Capital Acceleration Programme (HEEPS-CAP).

HHP will use the funding to carry out room-in-roof insulation to 68 homes before April 2017.

The bid was put together in partnership with the Comhairle, who will administrate the project.

New MD takes reins at Dunedin Canmore

Dunedin Canmore has appointed Hazel Young as its new managing director.

Previously housing and customer service director at the Edinburgh, Lothians and Fife based association, which is part of Wheatley Group, Hazel succeeds Ewan Fraser, who will retire at the end of the year as chief executive of Dunedin Canmore.

During a career in housing spanning more than 20 years, Hazel has worked in several senior management roles within Wheatley Group since 2008, including director of policy and service development at Wheatley and south area housing director at Glasgow Housing Association.

Contractor reaches milestone on Ayr refurb project

Building services contractor James Frew has reached a milestone on a £135,000 refurbishment project in South Ayshire.

The company has reached the halfway stage of its redevelopment scheme at South Ayrshire Council’s Information and Advice Hub in Ayr.

The centre is due to reopen to the public on December 9.

The refurbishment includes an internal upgrade which will create three new interview rooms near the entrance alongside a new reception, waiting area, accessible toilets and efficient heating.