Building Briefs – November 7th

Housebuilder Merchant Homes and Home Scotland have begun work on a multi-million pound development in Dundee.

Home Scotland is investing £4.2 million to create 38 affordable homes in the Whitfield area. The project forms part of the city’s wider regeneration plans.

Images for the Whitfield Development have recently been unveiled, giving residents an insight into the future of the homes, location and the surrounding area.

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The first phase of the new project is expected to be finalised in Spring 2015, with the development of 38 homes expected to be complete by late Autumn 2015.

The construction is being carried out by Merchant Homes and will feature a number of Merchant Homes’ most popular two and three-bedroom terrace and semi-detached homes, two-bedroom apartments as well as two two-bedroom bungalows.

Home Scotland, which has its head office in Dundee, will make the two and three-bedroom homes available for affordable rent.

The development has been partially funded with a £2.48m grant from the Scottish Government.

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Landmark University of Strathclyde project opens

Taylor and Fraser has marked the official opening of a landmark project with the University of Strathclyde which revitalised one of the university’s key seats of learning.

As part of a major investment to transform the James Weir building, Taylor and Fraser were appointed to undertake comprehensive construction and engineering work, for the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which involved the installation of new mezzanine floors within the building and the creation of new research laboratories and teaching areas.

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The building was seriously damaged by fire in 2012 which meant that major structural alterations were required. Replacement mechanical and electrical services were also needed as well as the construction of new plant rooms.

 

Construction begins on Edinburgh’s £150m New Waverley

Construction work has got underway at New Waverley, a £150 million mixed use development in Edinburgh’s Old Town, with McAleer & Rushe commencing delivery of two Premier Inn hotels, earmarked for completion by 2016.

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To mark the start graffiti artists have been commissioned to create a half kilometre long collage spanning the perimeter hoardings of the seven acre site, notably a row of exposed arches along East Market Street.

Designed by Alan Murray Architects the master plan will ultimately play host to 16,500sq/m of office space, 28 shops, a community centre and 185 flats – all arranged around a central public square.

A 146 room Adagio Aparthotel is currently out to tender and will move on site before the year is out.

 

Borders to Edinburgh railway track reaches Scottish Borders

Track laying along the 30-mile route of the Borders to Edinburgh railway has crossed into the Scottish Borders, marking the completion of the rail installation process in Midlothian.

Track is now in place over a number of landmark structures including the Lothianbridge Viaduct near Newtongrange and the new Hardengreen Bridge.

Network Rail project director Hugh Wark said that reaching the Scottish Borders was a “significant day”. Trains are due to return to the route next September.

Now that the rail is in place throughout Midlothian, it is being used to transport engineering vehicles.

The first vehicles to use the railway are specialist trains involved in completing the track laying process, installing ballast and undertaking “tamping” - packing the ballast under the rail and sleepers.

The rail installation machine will now continue its journey south through the Scottish Borders and is scheduled to reach Tweedbank towards the end of December.

 

Quarter of social rented homes with children are overcrowded

Almost a quarter of families with children who stay in council or housing association homes live in overcrowded circumstances, according to new figures.

Analysis of 2011 census data revealed that families in 23 per cent (33,000) of social rented accommodation do not have enough space.

The figure falls to 17 per cent (13,000) for families with children living in private rented accommodation.

Across all of Scotland’s 2.4 million homes, overcrowding was an issue in 9 per cent of homes, or 214,000 properties.

Lack of space was found in 5 per cent of owner-occupied property, 16 per cent of social rented accommodation and 17 per cent of private rented homes.

Overcrowding soared in student properties, homes with more than two generations of a family living together and households of unrelated adults.

In private rented accommodation, just over a third (35 per cent) of these properties were overcrowded, increasing to 43 per cent in social-rented homes.

The census also reveals that 5 per cent of overcrowded households had no central heating in 2011.

 

New body for Scotland’s heritage

The Scottish Parliament has paved the way for a new body to be set up to oversee the management and protection of Scotland’s heritage.

During the final parliamentary stage at Holyrood this week, the Historic Environment Scotland Bill was backed unanimously by MSPs, giving the green light for the new organisation to be created, subject to Royal Assent.

Historic Environment Scotland, the new body, will play a key role delivering Scotland’s first strategy for the historic environment, ‘Our Place in Time’ and ensure that heritage is protected and promoted while providing real and increasing benefits to Scotland’s people. In doing so it will deliver the functions of Historic Scotland and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS).

The Bill will further simplify the public sector landscape by reducing the number of Scottish public bodies.

The process is well underway to appoint a board for the new non-departmental public body, which will be fully operational by October 2015.

 

Success for Perth & Kinross Council at Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning

Perth & Kinross Council has received two commendations for its recent projects in Carse of Gowrie and Loch Leven at the Scottish Government’s Scottish Awards for Quality in Planning. The awards were held in Edinburgh on Wednesday 5 November.

The council’s work with the community of Carse of Gowrie was commended in the Community Involvement category.

The council worked in partnership with GeoGeo, SNIFFER and the Carse of Gowrie’s Sustainability Group to allow the community to map their local area using computer software and mapping techniques. As well as learning new skills, the community shared and recorded what mattered to them most about their environment and built heritage. The council has since used this information to inform its Strategic and Local Development Plans. The Judges considered this an inspiring and exciting collaborative project, incorporating state of the art mapping and driven by the community.

Perth & Kinross Council’s work to improve the ecological recovery of Loch Leven by reducing the extent of phosphorus entering the Loch was commended in the Development Management category.

The council created a revised planning procedure in agreement with Scottish Natural Heritage and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency to enable the ecological recovery. The planning procedure came into effect in August 2013. The Judges welcomed this initiative, which was based on analysis and scientific evidence. Loch Leven is the largest, naturally-nutrient-rich freshwater loch in lowland Scotland and it is internationally important for its wintering and breeding wildfowl.

 

More than £1bn unlocked to build new UK affordable homes

Twenty five housing associations, including two in Scotland, have benefitted from more than £1 billion which has been unlocked from the market to build new affordable homes.

Housing minister Brandon Lewis said the UK Government’s affordable housing guarantee will lead to nearly 9,300 homes being provided across the country.

The system of guarantees allows housing associations to borrow money for new affordable housing at very competitive rates, underpinned by the government as a debt guarantor. The total fund is worth £3.5bn UK-wide.

New Gorbals Housing Association has borrowed £6.7 million to build 118 homes in Glasgow while Home Scotland will build 147 homes across the country with its only guaranteed sum of £12.0m.

List of providers (MS Excel Spreadsheet, 63KB)

 

Behind-the-scenes tours of Glasgow Central Station begin

Behind-the-scenes tours of Scotland’s busiest train station are due to launch.

The tours will allow fans to scale Glasgow Central Station’s historic glass roof and explore an abandoned Victorian village buried underground.

Tickets are £10 per person, with profits covering staff costs and improvements to the 135-year-old station.

The 90-minute tours will run three days a week, usually at weekends.

The move follows the overwhelming success in summer 2013 of a Doors Open Day, which allowed the public on the station’s roof for the first time.

The limited number of tours sold out almost immediately and plans were drawn up to run more extensive tours on a permanent basis, with an initial start date of January this year.

 

Midlothian Council agrees way forward for carbon dioxide site

Midlothian Council has chosen to demolish and rebuild the houses on Newbyres Crescent and Gore Avenue in Gorebridge.

Investigations have been ongoing to the cause of the problem and, in June, the council agreed to demolish 64 homes to protect residents from elevated levels of carbon dioxide (CO2) coming from old mine-workings.

Now, at a special council meeting on Tuesday 4 November, elected members have decided that the site will be demolished with the council rebuilding new homes with gas membranes.

This option, costing around £12 million, will help meet the social housing need in the local area, incorporated into Phase 2 of the council’s Social Housing Programme.

Demolition of the site is likely to take place next year and 32 households have now moved out into alternative accommodation, with the rest moving out in the coming months.

 

Dundee Museum of Transport wins battle for permanent home

Volunteers at Dundee Museum of Transport say they are “thrilled” after finally winning the battle to take over the former Maryfield Tram Depot.

After four years of campaigning, the group’s bid for the derelict premises has been accepted by Scottish Water and a funding drive will now be launched to restore the category B listed building to its former glory and allow the museum to move from its current Market Mews premises by the end of 2017.

 

Grant delivers solar thermal technology for East Lothian homes

East Lothian Housing Association (ELHA) has been awarded a £10,000 grant to facilitate a project to install solar thermal technology in its homes.

BeGreen Dunbar & District was first approached by ELHA about grant funding for the project in April 2013.

The original remit was to install two solar collectors per property, coupled in to their electromax solar boilers for 16 rural affordable houses at the Crofts, Stenton. ELHA had a strong desire to improve the energy efficiency of the homes of their tenants by helping them generate their own hot water through the power of the sun.

In total, 12 of the homes elected to take up the offer and planning permission was sought and approved by East Lothian Council. MSC approved installer Lothian Renewables of North Berwick was awarded the contract and work began on installing the roof-mounted panels and linking them up to the internal boiler systems. By the end of the 2014 summer, the 12 installations were all complete and all tenants are absolutely delighted.

 

UCATT welcomes new workplace cancer campaign

Construction union UCATT have welcomed the launch of a new campaign to reduce the number of people who develop and die from workplace cancer.

At least 8,000 people a year die as a result of developing a workplace cancer. Construction workers are the group most at risk of developing occupational cancers.

The campaign is being led by the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) and is being backed by the Macmillan Cancer Support. The “No Time to Lose” campaign is calling for collaboration among organisations to beat occupational cancer.

Workplace cancers affecting construction workers are caused by a number of carcinogens including: asbestos, silica dust and diesel exhaust fumes.

The campaign is focused on ensuring that apprentices receive awareness training about the risks of workplace cancer, creating a national database of carcinogen exposure, more research into the cancer risk of new technologies and a greater focus on work cancer in medical courses.

 

50 years of Town and Regional Planning at the University of Dundee

The 50th anniversary of Town and Regional Planning education in Dundee is being marked this month by the University of Dundee.

Events to mark the anniversary – as well as the centenary of the Royal Town Planning Institute – are taking place around World Planning Day, which falls on Saturday November 8th.

One of the final events taking place to mark this anniversary year and the RTPI centenary will offer perspectives on the changes taking place across Dundee’s waterfront.

`Perspectives on Culture-led Regeneration in Dundee’ is a public event being held at 6pm on Tuesday November 11th in the Tower Building at the University. Co-organised with the Scottish Young Planners Network, it will see speakers discussing the context for Dundee’s regeneration – where it emerged from and how it has been realised through the planning system.

Speakers include Deborah Peel, Chair of Architecture and Planning, University of Dundee; Sean Panton, Young Planner and final year student, University of Dundee; and Gordon Reid, Team Leader, Development Plans and Regeneration, Dundee City Council.

 

Video shows Queensferry Crossing progress

A video showing the South Approach Viaduct Launch of the Queensferry Crossing, the new cable stayed bridge being built across the Firth of Forth in Scotland, has been released on YouTube.