Building Briefs – November 26th

New sustainable Highland homes ready to welcome tenants

Highland councillors paid a visit to Alness to watch the final block of apartments being stalled in a pioneering social housing project.

Commissioned by the Highland Council, local ward members and members of the council’s planning, development & infrastructure committee witnessed the final stage of the one bedroom apartments at Kendal Court being craned into position.

Developed and designed by Inverness based social housing company JNESpace and manufactured by Carbon Dynamic in its factory in Invergordon, this social housing project is the first of its kind in Scotland and delivers fully assembled buildings which are ready for tenants to move into on delivery to site.

Each sustainable apartment is manufactured off-site with even the pitched roof assembled in the factory and then craned into place in a single day.

Each with its own independent access and balcony, the eight one bedroom apartments were manufactured and fitted out in Carbon Dynamic’s Invergordon factory. They are designed to ensure superb levels of comfort, thermal performance and energy efficiency. Both the energy efficiency rating and environmental impact rating have been certificated band A+ – exceeding Scotland’s average of band D homes, meaning the apartments have very low running costs and CO2 emissions. It is anticipated that each flat should cost just £20 per month to run.

Ryden posts £12.5m at year end

Property consultant Ryden has posted £12.5m turnover and profits of £5.48m for the year ended April 30, representing an 18 per cent increase in fees and a 49 per cent increase in profits over the last three years.

Highlights of the latest financial year include regional growth in Edinburgh (+10 per cent), with key appointments from The City of Edinburgh Council and Scottish Enterprise; and 16 per cent growth in Ryden’s Project & Building Consultancy group due to a number of new project wins.

Temporary bridge to span A96

A new temporary bridge will be installed across the A96 this weekend between Dyce Drive roundabout and Kirkhill Forest to help keep traffic moving during Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie-Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) construction works.

An AWPR/B-T project spokesperson said: “Our construction works are now well underway but we want to make sure that these are done by causing as little disruption as possible.

“As the A96 is an extremely busy local and commuter road, a number of options were considered before a decision was taken to install a temporary bridge over the road.

“This means that construction traffic will have uninterrupted access to the site over the A96 with minimal disruption to the local community and commuters.”

To enable the a temporary bridge pier to be constructed within the central reserve, overnight traffic restrictions will be in place on Thursday 26th and Friday 27th November 2015, between 2000hrs and 0600hrs. This will mean that only one lane will be available in each direction during this period.

At the weekend, between 0600hrs on Saturday 28th and 0600hrs on Monday 30th November, further restrictions will be in place with a contraflow on the A96 eastbound and westbound carriageways. These works will allow the contractor to safely lift and place the temporary bridge over the A96.

Laybys on the eastbound and westbound carriageways will be closed while these works are in place. Right turns, from the A96 eastbound and westbound will also be temporarily suspended over this period and will be replaced with local diversions via Dyce Drive and Kinellar Roundabout.

New-build medical premises could lead to fewer deaths and patient harms

Encouraging private investment in healthcare real estate could help the NHS see a dramatic improvement in patient outcomes, and could prevent almost 3,000 deaths and 3,800 falls per year, according to a new report.

Quality Buildings, Quality Care, launched by the British Property Federation (BPF) and researched by Bolt Partners, shows that if government encourages private investment into healthcare real estate it could help the NHS make significant savings, lower mortality rates, and lead to a reduction in patient harms and falls.

Council invites public to view new Helensburgh civic centre

Argyll and Bute Council is inviting residents to view the new Helensburgh and Lomond Civic Centre this week.

The building centralises services for the two regions into one new facility on East Clyde Street in Helensburgh.

The project involved refurbishing the Grade B listed former Clyde Street School building and building a new extension alongside it.

Features of the upgraded building include new community spaces, a cafe, a marriage suite, a gallery and meeting rooms.

Outside, there will be landscaped grounds open for public use with an outdoor events and marriage area along with a community garden.

Approximately 140 council staff will be located in the extension building.

Work started on the project in August 2013.

Members of the public are invited into the building between 2.30pm and 4.30pm on Friday, 27 November.

Solar farm plan at former Montreathmont listening station approved

A 42 megawatt solar farm covering some 200 acres of a former Angus wartime listening post has been given the green light by councillors.

Development standards committee members unanimously approved the Lightsource SPV60 Ltd scheme for the 88-hectare site at Montreathmont Moor, east of Forfar, which will see thousands of photovoltaic panels located in a sprawling scheme covered by around 40 surveillance cameras.

The application – designated a major application by the local authority in light of its generating capacity – takes in ground around the former base of Angus wireless operators who eavesdropped on Hitler’s bunker during the Second World War.

Angus officials recommended the solar farm scheme for approval after a series of reports – including a breeding bird survey, glint and glare assessment and archeological study – were submitted by the applicant.

No statutory consultee objections were submitted in relation to the plan, and the Ministry of Defence said the Montreathmont site lay outwith its safeguarding areas.

First-time buyers up 16 per cent in Scotland

The number of first-time buyer loans in Scotland rose 4 per cent up on the previous quarter and 16 per cent up on Q3 2014, according to latest figures from the Council for Mortgage Lenders (CML).

First-time buyers totalling 8,500 in the period borrowed £920 million – up 2 per cent on the previous quarter and 16 per cent year-on-year.

At 10,000 loans, there were 12 per cent more home-mover loans in the third quarter than the second, and 15 per cent more than in Q3 2014.

The value of home-mover lending was £1.5 billion, up 16 per cent on the second quarter and 17 per cent up on the third quarter 2014.

Remortgage lending went up in value quarter-on-quarter and year-on-year.

Work to preserve historic Evanton bridge completed

Work to replace the parapets on the arch road bridge in Evanton has been completed.

The original masonry arch bridge over the Allt Graad in Evanton, sometimes known as Culcairn Bridge, was built around 1780 by the famous Civil Engineer, John Smeaton.

It was widened in the 1930’s using a combination of reinforced concrete and masonry.

In recent years the sandstone masonry parapets had deteriorated due to years of water spray from the road and freezing and thawing. This year The Highland Council designed replacement parapets and awarded a £175,000 contract to McGregor Construction to carry out the work. The new parapets are of cast stone and the colour has been chosen to be similar to the natural stone of the old parapets.

Statoil selects Isleburn to deliver suction anchors

Isleburn has been awarded a contract to provide suction anchors for the world’s first floating wind farm in Aberdeenshire.

Statoil selected Isleburn after the Norwegian energy firm was granted a licence for the project at Buchan Deep, 25km off the shore of Peterhead.

Isleburn has now been tasked with delivering 15 suction anchors for the 30MW five turbine Hywind pilot project.

The fabrication of suction anchors will take place in Isleburn’s facilities at Nigg Energy Park, starting in 2016 with delivery in 2017.

The scheme will power around 20,000 households with production expected to begin in late 2017.