Building Briefs – October 17th

Housing association launches new estate management subsidiary

Port of Leith Housing Association (PoLHA) has launched a new subsidiary company to assist with the ongoing regeneration of Leith and North Edinburgh.

Quay Community Improvements has been registered as a Community Interest Company, meaning that profits generated will go directly into the communities PoLHA works with to support social, economic and physical improvements.

It will initially deliver stair cleaning and estate management services to around 160 stairs in North Edinburgh, and office cleaning for PoLHA’s head office in Leith.

Quay will also be collaborating with PoLHA’s existing projects across the community to encourage people into work, and developing closer connections for people to support independent living.

Consent granted for new Highland wind farm

Energy minister Paul Wheelhouse has today given consent for the construction of a 22 turbine wind farm in the Highlands.

The Creag Riabhach wind farm will be located on the Altnaharra Estate, near Lairg, in the North Highlands.

The wind farm will have a generating capacity of 72.6MW, enough to power 36,000 homes, with estimated savings of 66,000 tonnes of CO2 per year. The proposed development is anticipated to provide in excess of £9 million in community benefit.

The proposal received widespread support from the public and local community council who emphasised the suitability of the location and highlighted the benefits to the local economy. The Highland Council was consulted on the application and raised no objection.

Contractor appointed for second phase of Almondbank flood defences

Work on flood defences for Almondbank will get underway later this month following the awarding of the contract to deliver the second phase of a flood mitigation scheme for the Perthshire village.

The contract, valued at £14 million, has been awarded to Balfour Beatty under Scape Group’s Civil Engineering and Infrastructure Framework.

Almondbank has experienced a history of flooding from the River Almond and East Pow Burn, with serious flooding events taking place in 1993, 1999 and more recently in January 2011. In order to mitigate flooding in the area, the Council commissioned consultants to investigate the extent of the problem and develop potential solutions.

The proposals comprise a series of flood defences along the River Almond and the East Pow Burn and a temporary flood storage area on the playing fields next to Main Street.

The works are due to begin in late October 2016, with completion expected in Spring 2018.

Tea room campaigners toast £250,000 Lottery boost

The project to revitalise one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s most well-known creations has received a major boost from the Lottery.

The Willow Tea Rooms Trust, which wants to reinvigorate the tea rooms designed by the architect and artist in Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow, has received a crucial “first round pass” towards a grant of £3.7 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The HLF gives a green light in this fashion when it has endorsed proposals and earmarked funding for future major projects.

It has now given a grant of £250,000 to enable the trust to develop plans and apply for the full grant at a later date.

Planning permission for the development of the tea rooms along with a new Mackintosh Exhibition and Education Centre in the next building has been granted by Glasgow City Council.

Scottish Government to support Clackmannan regeneration with £2m boost

The Scottish Government is to invest £2 million to support a regeneration project in Clackmannan.

The funding award is being granted from the Local Economic Development Fund, along with £2m of capital funding already approved by the local authority in response to the closure of Longannet Power Station.

The three-year regeneration project forms part of the Longannet Economic Recovery Plan and will build on infrastructure investments made in recent years, including the development of Clackmannanshire Bridge and the reopening of the Alloa to Stirling rail passenger service.

In addition, plans are being explored to build 35 social housing units in the town.

Council leader witnesses progress on £27m Aberdeen mixed recycling facility

Morrison Construction is continuing work on a £27 million mixed recycling facility in Aberdeen.

Council leader Jenny Laing visited the site last month to view progress on the project, which is due to begin operations in summer 2017.

The plant, which is being developed by SUEZ recycling and recovery on behalf of the city council, will eventually divert 71,000 tonnes of waste from landfill every year.

The three-storey centre will comprise of a Materials Recycling Facility where mixed recyclables, collected from homes and businesses, will be sorted before being forwarded on for re-processing, and a Refuse Derived Fuel Facility which will process residual waste to extract metals. Any remaining material will then be securely baled prior to onward transfer out of the area, where it will be diverted from landfill and put to better use in the recovery of energy.

In addition, the facility will have an Energy Efficiency ‘A’ rating including solar panels on the building roof and LED lights. Other features include recovering energy through site processing operations to provide renewable heat and power to the site.

Up to 65 people have been employed on the project during its construction. A further 40 permanent jobs will be created once the development is completed.

Work will begin later this month to install equipment to process Aberdeen’s waste and recycling. Following this 16-week phase, a period of commissioning will take place to calibrate the plant and ensure it is working correctly.

Once testing is complete, SUEZ will fully take over the operation of the new facility in summer of 2017.

Dumfries and Galloway road maintenance project to begin

Scotland TranServ is to begin a road maintenance project in Dumfries and Galloway.

The company will start resurfacing and patching works on the A76 in Sanquhar from Sunday, 23 October.

The scheme aims to improve the road surface for over 4,000 vehicles which use the route each day.

For safety reasons, a total closure will be in place between 7am – 7pm from Carronbridge to Cumnock bypass. Diversions will be in place.

Record affordable housing completions in Clackmannanshire

Residents in Clackmannanshire have benefitted from the highest number of affordable housing completions since 1997, a report to the council has revealed, and more units could be in the pipeline.

The Clackmannanshire report revealed that since 2012 a total of around 370 houses have been, or are being added to the affordable housing stock. New build completions account for 191 of the total, along with 80 ‘off the shelf’ purchases’. Included in the total are 130 units which could be added in the next financial year, with 40 units completed to date and 48 on site in Alva. It is hoped a further 42 can be acquired through off the shelf purchase.

The report showed that the spend on affordable housing in 2015/16 was £2,294,807 and included developments at Delph Road Tullibody and Ann Street Tillicoultry. The budget from the Scottish Government for 2016/17 is £3.654 million, and the council has developed a strong plan to take advantage of this increase. Planned developments include the building of 35 units in Clackmannan as part of investment by the Falkirk Pension Fund and 12 units at Todd’s Yard Sauchie delivered by Ochil View Housing Association.

There are also other affordable housing sites being funded over and above the main programme. In Alva where developers Tigh Grian is working with Link and Paragon Housing Associations to build 48 highly efficient green homes.

At the Glen development in Coalsnaughton, phase 2 is starting on site to complete a further 14 units for mid market rent.

Laing Traditional Masonry to restore Lerwick Town Hall

Laing Traditional Masonry is to begin a major restoration project on the Shetland Islands.

The specialist contractor has been appointed to carry out over £1 million of refurbishment work at the Town Hall in Lerwick.

Project managers from Shetland Amenity Trust met with the company last week to agree final plans, including timescales and working arrangements. Work to set up scaffolding allowing access to the external stonework and stained glass windows will begin this week.

The majority of the scheme will take place on the outside of the building and on the first floor of the Town Hall. Works include restoring stained glass windows and replacing some stonework, as well as tracery, which has deteriorated in recent years and is now leading to movement in some of the historically important windows. Damp patches have also appeared on the internal walls as water permeates through the stonework, causing paint to flake.

Once the windows are removed, specialist stained glass conservators Cannon MacInnes will start restoration work. External funding for the development has been secured from Historic Environment Scotland (£233,855) and the lead consultant will be Groves-Raines Architects.

As part of the project, Shetland Amenity Trust will also include more interpretation of the building and its history to improve the offering to tourists. The overall refurbishment is expected to last until the mid-2017.

Buy to let rents rise 5.4 per cent in a year

Prices in Scotland rental market have risen by 5.4 per cent in the last 12 months with Edinburgh and Lothians home to the highest rents in Scotland.

The latest 2016 buy-to-let index from Your Move found that typical rental prices remained increased slightly from £574 in July to August’s figure of £576.

The average rent growth across Scotland was 5.4 per cent in the year to August 2016, Your Move found, with four out of the five Scottish regions witnessing a rent increase in this period.

The highest rises came in the South of Scotland where average rents have grown from £511 to £590 since August 2015. Elsewhere the East of Scotland, Edinburgh & Lothians and Highlands & Islands regions all posted rent increases of above 4 per cent in the last 12 months.

Glasgow & Clyde was the only area of the country to post a fall in rents in the last year. Properties in this region now attract a typical rent of £536, 3.2 per cent lower than a year ago.

On a monthly basis, Highlands & Islands saw the biggest leap in prices. Rental properties in this area grew by 4.6 per cent between July and August to reach an average of £598.

The Edinburgh & Lothians region remains home to the highest average rents in Scotland. Properties in the capital city and surrounding towns are now typically let for £643 per calendar month, 0.6 per cent higher than the previous month. It is the only region of Scotland to boast rents of more than £600 a month.

Across all areas of Scotland 12.1 per cent of tenancies had arrears of a day or more in August 2016. This figure has fallen month-on-month, down from the 12.5 per cent recorded during July. It is also lower than the same point a year ago, Your Move found.

The August 2015 survey found 12.2 per cent of Scottish tenancies were in arrears.

However, Scotland’s arrears rate for August is above the level found in England and Wales. Across these two nations the average rate of arrears was 9.8 per cent during the month.

On an absolute basis, the number of Scottish households in serious arrears – defined as two months or more – was 11,541 in July 2016.

£3.4m Glasgow bridge refurb receives royal approval

A historic bridge restoration project has received the Royal seal of approval in Glasgow.

The £3.4 million redevelopment of Glasgow’s iconic Albert Bridge was completed by Balfour Beatty earlier this year.

To mark the project, a plaque commemorating its restoration was unveiled by HRH The Earl of Wessex on Thursday, 13 October.

Work on the 145-year-old Category-A structure began in May 2015. Features included refurbishing the metalwork, restoring and repainting the Glasgow City and heraldic crests, replacing the damaged parapets and installing new ornate street lamps to match, as close as possible, the original gas lamp standards.

Plaque for worker killed in bridge construction

A commemorative plaque marking the death of a Dundee worker who died during the construction of an Aberdeen river crossing has been unveiled.

Ian Walker, who worked for Balfour Beatty, died during the construction of the Third Don Crossing bridge.

A footpath which runs along the riverbank has also been named in the 58-year-old’s honour.

Mr Walker tragically died at the site on 13 January this year.

The crossing, which will soon be formally named the Diamond Bridge, connects Grandholm with Tillydrone, involved construction of two major bridges, with the first being a 26m skew span reinforced concrete bridge over the Mill Lade at Grandholm Village and the second a 90m span steel box girder bridge over the River Don.