Building Briefs – November 4th

Tyre giant Michelin is to spend £50 million turning its Dundee base into a state-of-the-art factory.

The French firm’s move came after it said it would shut its base at Ballymena, Northern Ireland.

Although 860 jobs will be lost, the investment is a boost for the 1,000 staff at Dundee’s largest industrial employer. The firm hopes to produce up to nine million tyres per year on Tayside.

Bosses said the five-year investment programme would see production ramped up by around 30 per cent at the Dundee site, hiking output from around seven to nine million tyres per year.

New machinery capable of churning out larger tyres will be installed, along with new electric presses and increased tyre curing capacity.

Michelin is also investing £12m in its Stoke-on-Trent plant to improve its production and logistics facilities.

Overall, the investment will add an estimated 100 jobs to the Dundee and Stoke sites.

Dundee firm Jaydee Heating heading into administration

Dundee company Jaydee Heating has closed with mounting debts and the potential loss of about 20 jobs.

Directors of the firm have lodged an application at Dundee Sheriff Court to appoint an administrator.

The company, which carried out industrial and commercial heating, electrical and plumbing work, had been coping with difficult trading conditions for some time.

A90 bridge demolition works completed early

A third weekend of closures on the A90 are no longer necessary with the old B800 bridge demolition now finished.

The road upgrades are an integral part of the Forth Replacement Crossing project. A new bridge for the B800 road between Kirkliston and South Queensferry has been built, meaning that the old B800 bridge needed to be demolished.

In order to safely demolish the bridge a full closure of the A90 was required meaning a significant diversion for road users, but is has been announced the work has been fully completed over the last two weekends.

Push continues for Midlothian arts and theatre complex

Midlothian Council is to work with partner agencies to improve its funding bid for a £6.5 million arts and theatre complex centre at the award-winning National Mining Museum Scotland.

At a full council meeting on Tuesday, councillors agreed to pursue the project, which would create the first theatre in the county for 100 years, despite being turned down for a grant by the government.

Joint procurement drop-in event for Borders suppliers

Scottish Borders Council, NHS Borders, Borders College and local registered social landlords are holding a joint procurement event today for suppliers and contractors.

The free drop-in event at Scottish Borders Campus, Galashiels will enable businesses to find out more about the procurement process, responding to tenders, work currently out to tender or upcoming, and the support available to them.

The event has been organised by the Community Planning Partnership and is open to all local suppliers and contractors.

The informal event runs from 2pm to 4pm and tea and coffee will be provided. No registration is required.

GAP nominated for Herald Scottish Family Business Award 2015

GAP Hire Solutions has been nominated for a Herald Scottish Family Business Award as the company continues on with its impressive growth plans.

Nominated in the Scottish Family Business of the Year (Large) category, GAP has grown from one location to over 130 across the UK.

The award nominations follow a successful year for the company, in which they announced a 21 per cent hike in turnover to £143m.

Highland business wins slice of fuel poverty scheme contract

A Highland home-grown business has been awarded a contract to help the Scottish Government roll out its latest scheme to tackle fuel poverty.

Inverness based McInnes Plumbing and Heating Ltd has secured the contract to install heating and low carbon or renewable measures in the homes of households who are identified as living in fuel poverty throughout the north of Scotland.

The £224 million national scheme launched in September, and is being implemented by Warmworks Scotland, which is comprised of the social enterprise Energy Saving Trust, Changeworks charity and Scottish SME Everwarm.

A total of 27 companies have been awarded a slice of the Warmworks contract, however McInnes Plumbing and Heating Ltd are the only company in the Highland region to be awarded part of it.

McInnes Plumbing and Heating Ltd & sister company McInnes Renewables Ltd went through a complex tender process to be awarded the Warmworks Scotland contract via the Scottish Government, which is expected to last over a seven-year term.

North Lanarkshire Council identifies innovative solution for cold homes

North Lanarkshire Council has identified an innovative tool in the fight against cold homes, saving people from unnecessarily cold winters and safeguarding tenants against the threat of fuel poverty for years to come.

The local authority is addressing the energy efficiency of its older, harder-to-treat solid wall properties through a new and unique insulation system called Matilda’s Blanket, which has already proved highly effective in combating cold and damp in social housing across England, as well as recently helping the occupants of a tower block at Anniesland in Glasgow.

The solution is helping the council bring over 200 properties up to the new Energy Efficiency Standard for Social Housing (EESSH), at the very start of the Scottish Government’s program, which sets 2020 as the deadline for all such work to be completed.

Perth public realm improvements to create city centre ‘cultural quarter’

Perth & Kinross Council is proposing a series of public realm improvements around the Mill Street area of Perth; including selective demolition of two poor quality warehouses in the conservation area, to help carve out a new ‘cultural quarter’ around the Concert Hall and redeveloped Perth Theatre.

A phased programme of improvements will see enhancements made to Mill Street itself as well as Skinnergate and Guard Vennel with external improvements to Perth Theatre and Cutlog Vennel occurring later.

Designed to improve amenity and accessibility the work will also carve out a new event space for markets, eating and drinking and carve out a pedestrian link to the High Street via the existing Burt’s Close.

Inverness community group receive update on West Link progress

The second Public Local Communities Liaison Group meeting for the Inverness West Link Project was held on Monday at the Inverness Leisure Centre, with representatives from Local Community Councils and Sporting Organisations represented.

The Advance Works Contract being undertaken by MM Miller (Wick) Ltd is well advanced, with most of the tree removal works complete and it is anticipated that all traffic management on the A82 Glenurquhart Road will be finished shortly.

The meeting was advised by Scottish Water that their involvement in the diversion of their water mains, to allow for the West Link roadworks to commence next year, is progressing well. Morrison Construction are undertaking the watermains works at the Canal Parks, the Queens Park and the Ness-side areas.

To minimise disruption to customers, Scottish Water advised that a temporary overnight shut down of their supplies will be carried out overnight from 10pm on Wednesday 11 November to 6am on Thursday 12 November. This may affect 2200 properties and Scottish Water will mail drop all potentially affected properties ahead of this date.

A similar shut down of the water supply to the properties localised at Ness-side is programmed for January 2016.

Capita appoints Paul Lejkowski as director of lease advisory in Edinburgh

Capita Real Estate has appointed Paul Lejkowski as director of lease advisory in its Edinburgh office.

His appointment marks the continued expansion of Capita Real Estate in Scotland with the opening of a new lease advisory service. Paul has over 20 years of experience in the industry and has joined Capita from BNP Paribas Real Estate.

Works to begin on Nithsdale Road Bridge

Scotland TranServ, working on behalf of Transport Scotland, will carry out a programme of works on the Nithsdale Road Bridge over the M77 which is located west of Bellahouston Park, next to Dumbreck Rail Station beginning on 8 November.

Over £120,000 of works will be carried out to improve the quality of the road surface, waterproof the bridge deck and carry out concrete repairs and joint replacement.

Industry and employers on track to provide record number of apprenticeships

Scotland is on course to provide more Modern Apprenticeships than ever before.

The annual target for Modern Apprenticeships – set by Scottish Government – has been raised from 25,000 to 30,000 by 2020.

Funding for an additional 500 places – the first step towards an extra 5000 Modern Apprenticeships – was announced earlier this year.

Since April there has been 12,473 new Modern Apprenticeships in Scotland, almost half of the target of 25,500 by April next year.

The figures have been published by national skills agency, Skills Development Scotland (SDS), which pays a contribution towards the cost of training Modern Apprentices on behalf of the Scottish Government.