Building Briefs – October 14th

Work is racing ahead to create a major new sports facility in Bishopbriggs.

Robertson Group is developing the sports hub at Huntershill for East Dunbartonshire Council, in partnership with the Leisure and Culture (EDLC) Trust.

The sports pavilion building - comprising 10 changing rooms, recreation hall and more - was recently ‘topped out’ - with all steelwork, concrete roof deck and insulated roof cladding installed.

Work is also forging ahead on a full-size, 3G all-weather sports pitch with floodlighting and fencing, as well as a six-lane running track.

Plans also include three floodlit, all-weather tennis courts, an access road and associated parking.

In addition to capital funding from the council - and EDLC Trust - sportscotland has contributed £500,000. The development is due to be completed by spring 2017.

Second phase of Manor Estates wall insulation programme begins

Manor Estates Housing Association is about to embark on next stage of its successful Wall Insulation Programme.

Having the benefit of Scottish Government HEEPS ABS funding for owner occupied properties, Manor Estates worked throughout 2016/17 with Mitie Property Services Scotland Ltd. at Telford Road, Edinburgh, and with SERS Energy Solutions (Scotland) Ltd. at Niddrie Mill, making vital improvements to 518 mixed tenure properties.

The programme, welcomed by householders, will give increased comfort levels to the properties, reduced carbon emissions and fuel consumption, help alleviate the householder’s vulnerability to fuel poverty as well as improving the overall appearance of estates.

Manor Estates Housing Association has successfully agreed a further tranche of Scottish Government HEEPS ABS funding for 48 owner occupied properties at Muirhouse. Welcoming this funding, it provides the opportunity to install energy efficient measures to the flats which would be impossible to improve without the active participation of owner occupiers. SERS Energy Solutions have been appointed through the Scottish Procurement Alliance (SPA) framework and are due to start setting up site at Muirhouse Place East during the autumn.

Manor has also successfully gained Scottish Governments HEEPS Loan Scheme funding in a bid to carry out insulation upgrades to 51 ‘no fines’ concrete houses at South Queensferry and Ratho. Manor’s £155,000 expenditure is complimented with the interest free loan funding spreading the remaining £264,000 expenditure over 10 years. This loan advance will allow Manor to insulate and upgrade individual properties, bringing these properties up to EESSH standards ahead of the December 2020 deadline.

HLF grants over £2m to support Cairngorms regeneration projects

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded over £2 million to support regeneration projects in Cairngorms National Park.

The £2.34m grant will be used to take forward 20 projects over a four-year period in Tomintoul and Glenlivet.

The Tomintoul and Glenlivet Landscape Partnership (TGLP) plans to carry out a number of schemes, including:

Breedon wins AIM Transaction of the Year Award

Breedon Group has won the coveted award for Transaction of the Year at the 2016 AIM Awards.

The award was presented by BBC news anchor Sophie Raworth to group chief executive Pat Ward, group finance director Rob Wood and group services director Ross McDonald at a glittering ceremony at Old Billingsgate in London.

The award is given in recognition of “a significant achievement by a company in transforming itself, literally at a stroke, and thereby creating significant shareholder value”.

It was awarded to Breedon for its £336 million acquisition of Hope Construction Materials earlier this year, which transformed the Group into the UK’s largest independent construction materials company.

Lovell achieves RoSPA President’s Award for safety

Housing developer Lovell has received the President’s Award from national safety charity The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) for its superb health and safety record over the past 12 years.

The accolade in the RoSPA Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2016 – celebrating their 60th anniversary this year – recognises Lovell’s achievement of 12 consecutive RoSPA Gold awards. It honours the company’s commitment to maintaining the highest safety standards and rigorous safety management systems at its construction sites and offices across Scotland.

The award was presented to Lovell in a ceremony at the Hilton Glasgow hotel.

Vacant Moray homes to be transformed into high intensity rehabilitation unit

Renovation work is underway to transform six vacant properties in Moray into high intensity rehabilitation units for older people.

The £120,000 project will provide a transitional option for patients ready to leave hospital but who need extra support before returning home.

The terraced cottages in Elgin’s Victoria Crescent will provide a homely environment where older people can work on regaining their independence following discharge from hospital.

During their short stay they will be supported by a team of health and social care staff to manage everyday living tasks, such as getting in and out of bed, washing and dressing, preparing meals.

Kier lays foundation stone £45m East Ayrshire campus project

Kier Construction has reached a milestone on a £45 million campus development project in East Ayrshire.

A foundation stone was unveiled at the William McIlvanney Campus site by Deputy First Minister John Swinney on Wednesday, 12 October.

The facility is being delivered by hub South West Scotland through the Scottish Futures Trust’s hub programme and completion is scheduled for early 2018.

The project has received £24.5m in funding from the Scottish Government and will have 200 people working on the site during peak times.

The Campus will host the new James Hamilton Primary School and Early Childhood Centre, with Kilmarnock Academy and James Hamilton Academy also transferring and merging to form a new Kilmarnock Academy. In addition, a third new school will replace the Gaelic Medium Education at Onthank Primary School and Grange Academy.

Contractor appointed for West Whitlawburn multi-storey panel cleaning work

West Whitlawburn Housing Co-operative has appointed Architectural Facades to clean the panels and non-opening conservatory and kitchen windows on its multi storey properties.

The work will see the contractor abseiling down the side of the buildings to do the work and there will be an exclusion zone set up at ground level while cleaning is taking place.

Ayrshire roads investment programme work begins

Work is to begin on a £650,000 roads investment programme in Ayrshire.

Scotland TranServ will start upgrading the A77 at three locations from Friday, 21 October.

Around two miles of the route will be resurfaced to benefit around 4,000 vehicles which use the road each day.

The works will be delivered via three major schemes over a 21-day period at the following locations:

A77 Bridgemill to Girvan Mains – 24-hour working from 8.00pm on Friday, 21 October until 6.00am on Monday, 24 October

A77 Ardwell – 24-hour working from 8.00pm on Friday, 28 October until 6am on Monday, 31 October.

A77 Minnybae – 24-hour working from 8pm on Friday, 04 November until 6am on Monday, 07 November.

Councils pay out £500,000 for pothole vehicle damage

Motorists have been paid nearly £500,000 by Scottish councils for damage caused by potholes over the last three years, the RAC Foundation has revealed.

The biggest payout was in Edinburgh, where the total increased by almost 70 per cent to £29,329 in the year to March compared to 2013-14.

Drivers in the city also had the second highest claims success rate, with 54 per cent of the 512 lodged being approved.

Highland Council recorded among the largest increases, from £500 being paid out for a single successful claim two years ago to £18,613 paid for 35 claims last year. Other big rises in payouts included Perth and Kinross, from £796 to £11,562. There was also a wide variation in claim success rates.

Glasgow, which attracted the most claims with 794, paid out for fewer than one in ten, while Renfrewshire paid out in 55 per cent of its 287 claims.

The figures, obtained by the motoring group from a Freedom of Information request, come two months after public spending watchdogs said there had been no overall improvement in Scotland’s council-run roads despite a 14 per cent increase in maintenance spending.

Total claims increased to £162,674 last year from £98,141 in 2014-15, but it was £228,161 the previous year.