Building Briefs – November 21st

• Princes Street Gardens arena shortlisted for global design award

The proposed £25 million replacement for the Ross Bandstand has been hailed as one of the world’s leading cultural visions in an international contest.

It will be up against a dinosaur centre in South Africa, a Chinese art gallery, a Norwegian library and an Indian museum inspired by a mythological god at the World Architecture Festival in Amsterdam next week.

• Building Supplies Online appoints Mark Wolfe to support strategic expansion

Construction material and building products distributor Building Supplies Online has announced the appointment of Mark Wolfe as head of buying.

Mark joins from Wickes Building Supplies, where he was head of Category for the building materials and garden division, responsible for its sales growth and profitability.

Prior to Wickes, he worked for Travis Perkins managing a series of global sourcing projects, which delivered significant cost and supply chain efficiencies. Earlier in his career, Mark held a series of buying roles covering all areas of the building supplies sector.

• Glasgow council leader visits new Southside housing development

Leader of Glasgow City Council, Councillor Susan Aitken, visited the city’s Southside to see how work is progressing on a brand new 156 home development in Pollokshaws.

Cambuslang-based building company CCG (Scotland) Ltd, through its private housing arm CCG Homes, has been live on the Riverford Gardens project since receiving planning permission in March 2018.

Due for completion in January 2020, Riverford Gardens will offer a range of properties with views across the White Cart River and Auldhouse Park, private parking and access to a broad range of local amenities and transport links.

Councillor Aitken first visited the site in June 2018. Since then, 22 homes, which are created ‘off-site’ in CCG’s manufacturing facility, have been constructed and a large number of the properties have been reserved.

• Public display for A96 Dualling Hardmuir to Fochabers scheme

As part of the Scottish Government’s ambitious programme to dual the A96 from Inverness to Aberdeen by 2030, the preferred option for the Hardmuir to Fochabers scheme is to go on public display in December.

Starting on 4 December in Elgin the local community and road users will be able to view and comment on our proposals for this 28 mile section of the road.

Details of public exhibitions include:

Tuesday 4th December 2018 – 12 noon – 7 pm
The Mansefield Hotel, Mayne Road, Elgin, IV30 1NY

Wednesday 5th December 2018 – 12 noon – 7 pm
The Mansefield Hotel, Mayne Road, Elgin, IV30 1NY

Thursday 6th December 2018 – 12 noon – 6 pm
Speymouth Hall, Stynie Road, Mosstodloch, IV32 7JN

Friday 7th December 2018 – 12 noon – 7 pm
Forres Town Hall, High St, Forres, IV36 1PB

• Minister pays visit as East Kilbride Housing Association gets back on site

East Kilbride Housing Association has started building new properties for the first time in almost a decade.

As part of the Scottish Government’s ambitious plan for over 50,000 new affordable homes by 2021, the Association has commenced the first of several planned new sites in the town. In partnership with Charlesfort Limited, it is constructing 18 two-bedroom flats at a total cost of £2.4 million, over £1m of which is grant from the Scottish Government.

• Council approves funding for improvements to Caithness homes

The Highland Council is to invest over £4.2 million into carrying out improvements to its housing stock in Caithness.

A meeting of the Caithness committee yesterday saw councillors agree a two year Housing Revenue Account Capital Programme that will see £4,204,420 spent on making improvements to Caithness council homes over the next two years.

On top of this funding, an additional £300,000 will be ring-fenced to provide aids and adaptations to assist tenants requiring extra support to stay living in their homes as long as possible.

The council is responsible for maintaining 2054 homes across Caithness. In the Wick and East Caithness wards there are 1208 residential properties and in the Thurso and Northwest Caithness wards there are 846.

During 2019/20, £2,050,982 will be used to carry out upgrade works, including: replacing kitchens, bathrooms, windows and doors as well as structural work to roofs, chimneys and the external fabric of properties. Money will also be used to carry out heating and energy efficiency work in line with the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing.

For the period 2020/21 the investment will rise to £2,153,438.

• Fife school kids swap classroom for building site to learn about construction

A group of Fife primary school children donned hard hats and hi-visibility vests to swap the classroom for the building site and learn about construction on one of the region’s new affordable housing projects.

The children from the primary 1 class at Saline Primary School visited a £7.8 million affordable housing project in Saline, near Dunfermline, where Kingdom Housing Association is developing 55 new homes for rent.

The Scottish Government has provided around £4 million in funding for the project with an additional £100,000 in subsidy from Fife Council. The homes are being built by Fife builders Campion Homes and are due for completion in April 20191.

Sean Whittet, Alana Anderson and Shirley McConkey, from Kingdom’s development department, organised the site visit, where the children met Campion’s site staff and were shown around the site. Before going on site, the children were all kitted out with high visibility jackets and miniature hard hats, which got everyone excited and added to the experience.

• A9 Dualling project meet the contractor invite

Balfour Beatty, the contractor responsible for the design and construction of the next stage of the A9 Dualling programme between Luncarty and the Pass of Birnam, is extending an open invitation to local residents to learn about the major construction works scheduled to begin in the coming months.

The works are part of the Scottish Government’s £96 million investment in the A9 Dualling: Luncarty to Pass of Birnam Project.

Balfour Beatty will offer the residents of Luncarty, Stanley and Bankfoot, the opportunity to meet with key people involved in the project to hear first-hand how this significant infrastructure project will benefit the surrounding communities.

Three informal drop-in day events will provide residents with the opportunity to view the contractor’s plans of the new road layout and provide an overview of the construction works scheduled for the months ahead.

The events will be supported by senior team members from Balfour Beatty, Atkins and Jacobs as well as representatives from Transport Scotland, who will be on hand to answer any questions the community may have about the project.

Details of the drop in sessions are as follows:

Bankfoot Church Centre – 3rd December 2018 – 1:00pm until 8:00pm
Stanley Village Hall – 10th December 2018 – 1:00pm until 8:00pm
Luncarty Church Centre – 11th December 2018 – 1:00pm until 8:00pm

• Stoneyfield active travel route opens

A new bridge and footpath linking the Inverness Shopping Centre Park and nearby businesses has been officially opened.

The project at Stoneyfield has been funded by using developer contributions matched by funding from the Scottish Government through Sustrans’ Community Links award scheme and is part of a network of new routes across the city aimed at encouraging people to walk and cycle as they go about their daily lives.

The route is already proving to be popular with walkers and cyclists.

The work was carried out by MM Miller and was project managed by Highland Council’s Project Design Unit.