Building Briefs – October 12th
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River Clyde Homes unveils plan for 144 new homes in Greenock
Plans to build more than 140 homes in Greenock have been revealed by River Clyde Homes.
The £19 million project will be developed at a vacant site at the entrance to James Watt Dock. A total of 144 new homes will be built in the area of a two year period.
The housing would be a mix of mainstream housing, assisted living accommodation and wheelchair accessible properties, with other plans in place to build a ‘village green’ and a children’s play park.
Two applications have now been submitted to Inverclyde Council seeking planning permission for the first 72 flats of the development.
Gary Wilson, executive director of property services at River Clyde Homes, said: “We have been working on these plans for some time and are pleased that an application for this large development on a significant site have been submitted. This is a major investment in much needed modern homes in Inverclyde and contributes to our ambition to be a major developer of housing in Scotland.
“Work on the first phase of 28 homes in Slaemuir has begun and at the end of the month I expect there to be a site start on 20 new homes at the Mallard Crescent area.”
Charles Mills joins CPC as project director
CPC has announced the appointment of Charles Mills who will be joining CPC’s Transport and Infrastructure division as project director to support the delivery of major projects in the rail sector.
Charles has over 25 years’ experience of programme and change management and joins CPC from London Underground where he was Head of LU Stations, Renewals and Enhancements, responsible for multi million pound station construction programmes.
He has worked on significant rail projects in the UK including leading London Underground’s team interfacing with Crossrail, Network Rail’s Control Room Integration with Train Operating Companies to regulate train activities and the Jubilee Line extension.
Charles has a Masters in Project Management and chairs the Constructing Excellence Procurement Interest Group, was a Member of the Cabinet Office Trial Projects Working Group in 2016 and is on the current judging panel for the Association for Project Management Awards.
Housing plans submitted for former Dundee hospital site
Developers have submitted plans to build homes on the site of a former Dundee hospital.
Kirkwood Homes hopes to build 18 detached houses on a new street extending from the junction of South Drive and East Road in Liff.
If approved, the development would be the fourth phase in the creation of a housing estate in the West Green Park area formerly occupied by Liff Hospital.
Planning firm Emac said that each home would have at least four bedrooms and three parking spaces.
Persimmon plans to build 62 new houses at former Dundee school site
Developers have unveiled plans to build 62 homes on the site of a former Dundee school.
Persimmon Homes North Scotland has lodged proposals with Dundee City Council for the old Kingspark School site in Gillburn Road, Kirkton after acquiring the site for £3.3 million in December.
According to the proposals, the new estate would consist of a mix of three and four-bed detached and semi-detached homes, with access coming from Gillburn Road.
In a report submitted to council planning officials, Persimmon said it had carried out an extensive consultation into the plans, including informing Kirkton Community Safety Partnership and local councillors.
The developers also put the plans on display at Downfield South Church earlier this year.
The firm said the new roads layout would comply with relevant policies, which would reduce the impact of traffic on the area, and insisted the larger house sizes would “maximise the amount of amenity space to private gardens and also minimise the amount of traffic”.
The plans will be considered by councillors in due course.
Construction work begins on new East Lothian primary school
Pupils from Wallyford Primary School were joined by Deputy First Minister John Swinney at a ground breaking ceremony this week to celebrate the start of construction work on their new school.
The new project, part of the new St Clements Wells mixed tenure housing development on the outskirts of the village, has an overall budget of £18.9 million.
East Lothian Council secured a grant of £4.5m from the Scottish Government’s £1.8 billion Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme, which is managed by the Scottish Futures Trust.
Mr Swinney, who is cabinet secretary for education and skills, attended the ceremony with officials from East Lothian Council, hub South East Scotland, Morrison Construction and Scottish Futures Trust.
The new school, which will replace the existing school building at Salters Road, will initially provide 28 classrooms, as well as 120 pre-school places. The new school includes resources for wider use by the community and has been designed to provide access to the library, sports and other non- teaching facilities. A further phase to be developed later could see the expansion of the school for an eventual primary and pre-school roll of more than 1,300, one of the biggest primary schools in the county.
The new school should be complete early in 2019.
New £3m Argyll and Bute military training facility complete
Work on a new £3 million modern military firing range in Argyll and Bute is now complete.
The facility at Garelochhead Training Centre was built by Mackenzie Construction in partnership with Landmarc Support Services.
The two-year scheme involved transforming the existing Garelochhead ranges in to two new developments: a grouping and zeroing (G&Z) range and an electronic target range (ETR) and a single range building complex with classrooms, a targetry store and workshops, which serve the two ranges.
Overall, the facility is designed to provide the optimum ‘safe place’ training environment for armed forces personnel in order to equip them with the skills required for operational duties at home and overseas.
Bike and pedestrian-friendly layout agreed for Edinburgh’s Silverknowes Roundabout
Changes to the layout of Silverknowes Roundabout in Edinburgh have been agreed to help make it safer and more user-friendly for those on two wheels, as well as pedestrians.
Following discussions between the City of Edinburgh Council officers and representatives of cycling groups, a number of new features are currently being installed at the roundabout in north west Edinburgh as part of ongoing carriageway resurfacing works.
These are:
In light of experience with this project, the council’s Street Design Guidance will be amended, clarifying that the type of cycle lane originally planned in this project (following the perimeter of the roundabout within the carriageway) is not recommended for use in Edinburgh.
Activity drops in UK housing market amid price increases
The UK housing market continued to lack momentum in September, as demand from new buyers and sales fell again and the shift in interest rate expectations contributed to buyer caution in a slowing market, according to the September RICS UK Residential Market Survey.
Surveyors reported a decline in both sales and new buyer enquiries, with sentiment now flatter than any point since the EU referendum result. In September, 20% more respondents noted a fall rather than rise in demand from would-be buyers, extending the run of negative readings into a sixth month.
Alongside this, 15% more respondents reported a fall in agreed sales rather than a rise which is the lowest since July 2016.
Looking ahead over the next three months, there is little change anticipated in sales activity across the UK, with expectations slipping to -1% (from +7% previously). Likewise, the twelve-month outlook is also flat at the national level, although respondents reported more optimism in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
As sales and new buyers decline, new instructions to sell were more or less stable for the second report running, having declined continuously for the past eighteen months. Consequently, average stock levels on estate agents books held broadly steady (albeit near record lows), at 43.3.
Prices also held steady in September at the national level, with 6% more respondents seeing a rise in prices demonstrating a marginal increase.
Looking ahead to the next three months, sentiment turned negative with 8% more respondents expecting prices to fall at a national level; primarily being driven by the cautious outlook from respondents in London and the South East. Scotland and Northern Ireland are now the only two areas in which contributors are confident that prices will rise in the near term.
Rail upgrade on track near Inverness
Installation of new track and the upgrade of level crossings and signals are currently taking place during a 10 day possession of railway between Inverness and the town of Keith in North East Scotland.
Work by contractor BAM Nuttall forms part of a rail improvement programme between Inverness and Aberdeen and around 380 engineers and operatives are working around the clock.
Highlights of the work include the demolition of redundant signal boxes at Elgin and Forres and the installation of new sections of track near each station. Signalling is being upgraded towards Inverness, stations are being improved and Elgin’s level crossing will be upgraded to a full barrier crossing.
The improvement scheme will lead to an hourly service operating between Inverness and Elgin during the day by December 2018, a half hourly service between Aberdeen and Inverurie by the end of 2019 and an increase in the frequency of end to end services to once an hour in the longer term.
Process begins for creation of latest Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan
Planners have set out a timetable for the production of a new Aberdeenshire Local Development Plan (LDP), which provides a planning blueprint for the area.
Just months after the adoption of the current plan, work has started on the pre-planning phase of a four-year project to produce the next one.
Planners have been attending community council forum events across the area in recent weeks, to put forward a draft programme of work, called the Local Development Plan Scheme 2018.
Increased engagement with communities is one of the recommendations being taken forward following evaluation of the process to create the last LDP.
Extensive engagement with community councils and other interested parties will be undertaken before councillors are asked to consider, comment upon, and agree the publication of a Main Issues Report and proposed Local Development Plan for publication in November 2018.
The five-year programme for the production of the LDP is currently:
This is in line with Scottish Ministers’ expectations that Local Development Plans are adopted within two years of the adoption of a Strategic Development Plan.
The draft Local Development Plan Scheme 2018 will be reported to Local Area Committees in November, before Infrastructure Services Committee is asked to approve it in January 2018.
M8 resurfacing scheme to start
Work is to start on a £150,000 resurfacing scheme on the M8 Motorway in Renfrewshire.
Scotland TranServ will begin addressing issues with surface defects and structural cracking on a 570-metre stretch of the M8 Eastbound at Junction 29, Arkleston to Hillington Footbridge, from Friday, 13 October.
Work will start at 8pm and run until 6am on Monday, 16 October.
CALA strengthens ties with Neigh-bours with £20,000 charity donation
CALA Homes (East) has made a bumper donation to a local horse-riding charity looking to reach a funding target to provide a vital indoor riding arena - and is calling on other businesses to follow suit.
The volunteer-run Ravelrig Riding for The Disabled Association (Ravelrig RDA) exists to provide life-improving experiences to its riders and now requires close to £200,000 to reach its targets to build an indoor arena in order to provide a safe and covered environment for riding all year round.
To help it achieve its goal, CALA is making a sizeable £20,000 donation – and is strongly urging other local businesses and organisations to make a final push and help meet the shortfall.
CALA’s historical association with Ravelrig RDA goes back as far as 1998 when it assisted the group to move to its present site at Ravelrig Gait and helped to build custom-made stables. In 2012, CALA gifted the land to the charity and obtained planning consent for the indoor arena.
Earlier this year, the charity received £1,700 donation from CALA construction staff and contractors following a local golf event.
Ravelrig RDA is run solely by volunteers and is dependent upon its own fundraising efforts and donations from riders, parents and from within the local community. The annual running costs now amount to over £90,000 – around £900 per rider per year. It would not be possible to provide riding therapy at Ravelrig without continued help and support from fundraising activities throughout the year.
Individuals looking to donate to the centre should visit here.
For businesses looking to donate, assist or simply to learn more about Ravelrig RDA, contact: 0131 449 7994 or organiser@ravelrig-rda.org.uk.
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