Building Briefs - November 1st

Scottish Water International completes major Canadian contract

The international arm of Scottish Water has completed its second major assignment in the Western Canadian City of Calgary.

A five-strong team of core consultants from the Dunfermline-based public utility carried out a year-long review of Calgary’s Water Resources business unit – making recommendations which could save the city up to £14.8 million a year.

Principal Consultant John Carty, who led the team in Calgary, said: “This project is another demonstration of how Scottish Water’s knowledge and expertise is in demand, and a fantastic opportunity to promote us on the global stage.

“Our focus was Calgary’s Water Resources business unit, which covers asset management and delivers upgrades and new water infrastructure for the people of the city.

“We made 17 key recommendations across customer engagement, waste water service levels, management of capital investment and the application of capital delivery models.

“These recommendations will help realise significant efficiencies, as well as improved customer experience, enhanced data quality and leaner processes for improved decision making.

“Many of these recommendations are scalable, meaning they could help other infrastructure investment and capital programmes across the city generate efficiencies of their own.”

The assignment follows a review in 2014/15, which saw a team of Scottish Water consultants focus on the Calgary unit’s day-to-day operational activities, identifying efficiency savings up to $5m.

In the last year, Scottish Water has also secured contracts with clients in South and Western Australia, offering specialist consultancy services to clients keen to learn about Scottish Water’s journey into an efficient publicly-owned service provider.

Ken Hutchison, managing director of Scottish Water International, added: “The successful delivery of the Calgary contract is a clear demonstration of how, using the skills and expertise of Scottish Water employees and our experience of transforming the delivery of water services in Scotland, we can help international clients raise standards and reduce costs.

“To win and successfully deliver back-to-back contracts is testament to the quality services we are able to deliver across the board.”

Strategy outlined for Saltcoats town centre regeneration scheme

Austin-Smith:Lord, acting on behalf of Irvine Bay Regeneration Company and North Ayrshire Council have revealed a public realm strategy for Saltcoats.

Recently reopened following a £3.7m redevelopment, the town’s hall will be placed at the heart of the public realm strategy as a venue for civic events.

Current paving and lighting will be upgraded with layout changes being made to accommodate increased footfall.

Improvements will also be made to Countess Street to increase the kerb appeal of the important thoroughfare connecting the railway station with the retail core and seafront, enhancing the environment around the town hall in the process.

Councillor Jim Montgomerie, cabinet member for place, said: “These public realm works mark another major milestone in a vitally-important regeneration project for the town of Saltcoats.

“The town hall and Countess Street are central to the history of the town, and their revival is something the local community has long wished to see.”

The work is expected to conclude by spring 2017.

Construction begins on twin Perth housing projects

Construction has begun on twin housing developments to the north of Perth on behalf of Perth & Kinross Council.

Both of the CCG projects are scheduled for completion by spring 2017.

Cairns Crescent will provide eight one-bedroom cottage flats on the site of a former garage whilst its sister scheme at Nimmo Avenue will offer 10 one-bedroom flats and cottages, half of which will be fully wheelchair accessible.

Built using CCG’s custom ‘off-site’ timber construction system the homes that utilises sustainable materials whilst being energy efficient for occupants.

CCG director Calum Murray said: “… the use of our timber frame system will ensure that the future occupants will benefit from enhanced energy savings, whilst fewer vehicle movements and a quicker build programme, due to the level of work completed off site, will reduce the impact of the projects on the local communities.”

The properties are being delivered as part of the local authorities affordable housing programme and delivered using the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) NH1 Framework, which is fully OJEAU compliant.

Plans for new Aberdeenshire school backed

Planners at Abeenshire Council have backed plans for the building of a £12million replacement for a fire-hit school in the north eat town of Blackburn.

Council officials have backed the proposals for the new Kinellar Primary and approved the budget and the site for the new building.

It will have space for 450 primary and 40 nursery pupils, in June.

A fire on New Year’s Day 2015 destroyed the nursery and primary one classrooms.

The new school will feature a games area and a sensory room for pupils with additional support needs, a community playground and extra car parking and it should be complete by summer 2018.

A council spokeswoman said: “Planning permission for the new school has been granted, as well as permission to demolish the old school.

Edinburgh scaffolding firm adopts innovative approach at Boroughmuir High

An Edinburgh-based scaffolding firm has announced details of an innovation used in the construction of the city’s new Boroughmuir High School.

Having been awarded the tender to provide all scaffolding on-site, the City Access Scaffolding team began work to identify the most efficient and effective way to deliver the required scaffolding.

A major feature of the design is a multi-functional atrium - a striking, versatile space at the heart of the building.

This posed a significant challenge due to the sheer size of the building and atrium, as the traditional ‘birdcage’ scaffold design would require 13,000m3 of scaffolding, with an equally vast weight of 56 tonnes.

The size of the traditional scaffold would lead to increased costs and build time, so City Access Scaffolding considered an alternative approach.

From an initial concept, and using CAD components previously used for a mobile roofing system, a design was developed for an innovative and effective rolling scaffold.

This new product, the first of its kind in Scotland, is a significant improvement over the traditional birdcage, and has many benefits, from ease of operation and reduced build time, to a substantial saving on this project of over £60,000.