Building Briefs – November 19th

A remote mountain bothy that was closed six years ago because it was structurally unsafe could soon be reopened as a base for tree planters.

Athnamulloch Bothy lies west of Loch Affric in Glen Affric in the Highlands.

The charity Trees for Life, based at Findhorn Bay near Forres, has been raising funds to pay for the property to be renovated.

It plans to use the bothy as a base for a project set up to restore an area of ancient Caledonian Forest.

Working with Forestry Commission Scotland, Trees for Life plans to plant 250,000 Scots pines in the glen.

Glasgow-based wildlife cameraman Gordon Buchanan, who has worked on the BBC’s Springwatch programmes, is supporting an appeal to raise the final £30,000 needed to restore the bothy.

Money already raised includes a £20,000 grant from The Gordon and Ena Baxter Foundation in Fochabers.

Mactaggart & Mickel hands over Midlothian affordable homes

The keys have been handed over for a £2.7 million social housing development in Dalkeith, Midlothian, delivered by Mactaggart & Mickel Contracts, a division of Mactaggart & Mickel Group.

The site, which is part of the company’s Thornybank Green development, was delivered on behalf of Places for People and Castle Rock Edinvar, providing much needed affordable stock to the local community.

Featuring 25 residential units - 11 social housing properties for Castle Rock Edinvar and 14 for mid-market rent on behalf of Places for People Scotland - the development was handed over in a walk-in condition and over 50 residents are now living on site.

Contractor fined £150k for corporate manslaughter

A stonemasonry company has been fined £150,000 after being found guilty of corporate manslaughter at Oxford Crown Court.

Cavendish Masonry Limited was found guilty by a jury of corporate manslaughter following the death of one of their employees in February 2010.

Cavendish previously pleaded guilty to safety breaches and has now been ordered to pay £87,117.69 costs and a £150,000 fine.

The court heard that on 9 February 2010, David Evans, a 23-year-old stonemason’s mate employed by Cavendish Masonry Limited, was erecting a large wall at the Well Barn Estate in Moulsford, Wallingford.

A two tonne limestone block fell off a concrete lintel and crushed Evans.

He was taken to the John Radcliffe Hospital by air ambulance and was pronounced dead later the same day.

Cavendish was found guilty of a gross breach of its duty of care in its management and organisation of its activities at The Well Barn estate, by failing to take reasonable care in the planning and execution of those activities contrary to section 1 (1) of the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007.

Reston and East Linton stations ‘one step closer’ to reopening

A south of Scotland MSP has said the reopening of stations at Reston in the Borders and East Linton in East Lothian is a “step closer”.

The SNP’s Paul Wheelhouse said services for the stops had been written into the next ScotRail franchise.

He said timings for stops at East Linton and Reston were part of the new planned timetable.

Mr Wheelhouse said that could mean trains running through both stations as soon as December 2016.

Both East Linton and Reston are on the railway line between Edinburgh and Berwick. The stations were closed after the Beeching report in 1964.

Earlier this year Dutch firm Abellio won the ScotRail franchise and will take over services from April next year.

Consultants appointed for £2m Hermitage Park project

Gillespies has been appointed to take forward the development phase of Argyll and Bute Council’s Hermitage Park project.

In early January the council, working with the Friends of Hermitage Park, received confirmation from the Heritage Lottery Fund that their bid for a grant of up to £2,087,000 to regenerate Argyll and Bute’s only urban park had received first round approval.

This first round approval includes a grant of £169,700 to carry out the development phase of the project.

Some construction work has already taken place, with the council’s amenity services team removing an unsightly wall around the shelter within the park which has drastically improved the look of the area.

Part of the initial grant will pay for Gillespies to develop a whole park plan which will include proposals for the A listed monument and memorial gardens, investigative works to deal with the problems of flooding and erosion and a community consultation process.

Run-down building in Edinburgh to be given a new lease of life

The neglected Castlebrae Business Centre in Craigmillar, Edinburgh is set to undergo a complete renovation.

The Cat B listed building is currently only 50 per cent occupied and due to the level of damage, 40 per cent of the office block is incapable of use.

This is set to change, however, as GHI has been awarded the contract to refurbish the former school, by the City of Edinburgh Council, updating the art-deco style building to provide high quality office space. The project is expected to have a positive impact on the local community, attracting new office tenants, and in turn benefitting local shops and other businesses.

GHI will start the £2.4m transformation in January 2015, involving the removal of asbestos, replacement windows, render and roughcast repairs, internal and external decoration, upgrade of the electrical, water and central heating systems, replacement toilets and installation of new lifts. The centre is due to be complete in November 2015.

Under our Framework agreement with the City of Edinburgh Council, GHI has also been awarded the £385k project for the fit-out of Oxgangs Daycare Centre, at Firrhill Neuk. The works comprise the fit-out of an existing shell unit for use as a dementia daycare centre.

Gregory’s school to be torn down

Demolition work has begun on the high school where Gregory’s Girl was filmed.

Abronhill High, in Cumbernauld, was the backdrop for Bill Forsyth’s 1981 classic coming of age romantic comedy starring John Gordon Sinclair, Dee Hepburn and Clare Grogan.

Opened in 1978, it was earmarked for the axe in 2012 as part of cost-cutting moves by North Lanarkshire Council and finally closed to pupils on June 27 this year, despite a campaign to save it.

As the demolition vehicles moved in this week, groups stood on the football pitch made famous in the film and watched workers begin to tear down the distinctive blue-panelled walls.

A plaque commemorating the school’s role in Gregory’s Girl has already been removed as demolition begins.

A92 Basin View pedestrian crossing refurbishments to begin

Work on the A92 Basin View is scheduled to start on Monday 24 November 2014 for a period of four weeks.

The works involve tracking across the carriageway to install new ducts and cables, refurbishing the existing traffic signals as well as associated localised footway works at all three crossings on Basin View.