Building Briefs – November 17

The latest addition on the construction site of the Dunfermline Carnegie Library and Galleries development, in the town’s Heritage Quarter, is a tower crane.

The crane will be on site for 23 weeks.

It is being used during the construction of the concrete frame, external walls and roof, to off-load and distribute materials onto and around the site.

Progress during 2015 has included the partial demolition of the town house next to the library. A structural steel frame has been erected along with concrete floor slabs and a roof structure behind the town house’s beautifully retained façade.

The below ground foundations and ground floor slabs, forming part of the new extension, are almost complete and work on the concrete frame and upper floor slab works will begin soon.

The project is being funded by Fife Council, the Heritage Lottery Fund, and the Carnegie Dunfermline Trust.

Fife Cultural Trust will operate the new facility when it opens and are also fundraising to meet the final contributions required to deliver the project.

Doug Keillor, Regional Director for BAM Construction said: “The crane going up is definitely a milestone for us and the team have done a lot of hard work behind the scenes to get us here. Getting out of the ground was a very challenging technical job so we’re really looking forward to starting the superstructure and people will shortly be able to see the new building taking shape.”

CCG appointed to construct £4 million SSE visitor centre at Pitlochry Dam

The construction team that built the athletes’ village for last year’s Commonwealth Games has been appointed to work on an ambitious multi-million-pound visitor attraction at Pitlochry Dam.

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has secured planning consent for is new centre at its famous Highland Perthshire power plant.

The new £4 million base will showcase the role played by engineers who brought hydro-power to Scotland more than 70 years ago.

SSE has appointed Glasgow construction firm CCG to carry out the work.

The company created the acclaimed athletes’ village for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

The new centre is expected to open in October.

David Wylie, business strategy manager for CCG, said: “Our construction approach will use the latest materials to create a high- performance building that provides a great experience for the 100,000 users expected each year.”

Located at the end of the Tummel valley, the picturesque Pitlochry Dam is already a major tourist attraction, with an estimated 500,000 visitors crossing it each year.

Admission to the new centre will be free and plans include a 60-seat café, retail area and a multi-space zone for education.

Shawlands Square design proposals to go on show

Glasgow City Council is to unveil its design proposals for a new civic square in front of Langside Hall, centrepiece of its £3.3m Shawlands Town Centre Action Plan.

Shawlands Square will sit at the heart of a proposed new south side cultural quarter, playing host to a variety of markets and events in the vicinity of The Shed nightclub and Glad Café.

As part of that process a host of public realm enhancements are set to be rolled out across the area early next year; including improved paving to the south of Shawlands Arcade, new crossing points at the Granary, an upgraded Shawlands Cross, shop front improvements and a new taxi rank on Kilmarnock Road.

Councillor Archie Graham, chair of the Shawlands town centre steering group, said: “While a great deal has already been achieved to develop Shawlands as a shopping, dining, entertainment and cultural destination over the past few years, the creation of a new civic square could take the area to the next level. I look forward to discovering the views of people who come along to see the proposals.”

The plans will be available to view at Langside Hall between 10:00 and 18:00 on 21 November.

Planning sought for 37 Pollok homes

Rosehill Housing Co-operative and Mast Architects have submitted plans for 37 detached and terraced homes on brownfield land at Househillwood Crescent, Pollok.

Set in an area of interwar housing on a plot once occupied by a school the homes will be situated along a landscaped strip with a pedestrian through route connecting to nearby open space.

In their design statement the architects observed: “We are proposing a single base material of brick to bring uniformity to the house types with feature panels of brick detailing to living room windows and entrance ways. This panelling will be a combination of corbelled brick work and precast string courses. We believe providing strong, simple robust details will provide a modern house aesthetic.”

A site start has been scheduled for April 2016.

DM Hall strengthens East of Scotland commercial team

Chartered Surveyors DM Hall, has expanded its commercial team in the East of Scotland with a series of high profile appointments.

The new additions to the team - including a director of commercial agency, a commercial valuer and a commercial surveyor - will work with the firm’s head of east of Scotland Commercial, Michael Court, who is responsible for a staff of 30, covering Edinburgh, Tayside, Fife and Central Regions including the Property Management Division in Livingston.

John Clement, who joins as director of commercial agency. John has worked with DM Hall on two previous occasions and has been involved in some of the most high profile and prestigious deals in recent Scottish history, including the sale of the site for the Scottish Parliament.

Over the past two years, John has been the Crown Estate Manager on the British dependency of St Helena in the South Atlantic, involved in upgrading infrastructure an attracting inward investment in advance of the opening of a new £275 million airport next year.

Commercial valuer Andrew Shaw, joins DM after six years with Lothian Assessors where career highlights included measuring and valuing the new Atria Development and the extension to the Edinburgh International Conference Centre on Morrison Street, as well as dealing with the subsequent rating appeals.

Duncan Fraser, commercial surveyor. Duncan, who also joined from Lothian Assessors, is based in Dunfermline. He qualified as a Chartered Surveyor in 2011 and previously worked in rating. He now carries out commercial valuations and agency work for various clients.

Meanwhile, long-serving DM Hall valuation expert Roy Hudghton has recently been appointed to head up the Commercial Valuation team in Edinburgh. Roy, the immediate past Head of the RICS Valuation Professional Group in Scotland, specialises in trading related valuation appraisals. He covers the whole of Scotland, and has done since qualifying in 1982.