Building Briefs – October 1st

Work is to start on an expansion of a shopping centre in southern Scotland with the promise of 50 new jobs.

It is the third phase of development at the Gretna Gateway outlet village.

It currently employs about 400 people across dozens of stores and cafes on the site.

General Manager Peter Gardner said Gretna Gateway was a “real success story” and its growth had consistently outperformed the rest of the UK.

The latest expansion will get under way in October with its “anchor tenant”, Next Outlet, expected to open next summer.

Councillors to view proposed brewery site in Inverness

Highland councillors are to visit the site of a proposed new brewery and visitor attraction in Inverness before making a decision on the plans.

If given planning permission, the premises would be constructed on land between 8 and 10 Ness Bank on the banks of the River Ness.

The project, which could create 12 jobs, has been proposed by Jon and Victoria Erasmus.

The couple own the Glen Mhor Hotel and Apartments at Ness Bank.

They said a German brewing plant and Scottish ingredients would be used to produce new Highland beers.

The visitor attraction would include a shop and an art gallery.

Dunhill Cup delays Tay Road Bridge carriageway repair works

The timing of proposed surfacing repair works on the Tay Road Bridge has been reviewed to limit the impact on visitor numbers to the Dunhill Cup.

As a result, works will no longer be taking place over the weekend of 3 -6 October. Instead, there will be a contra-flow to the Bridge over the weekends of 10, 17 and 24 October.

The full programme is now:

Weekend 1 - Friday 10 October 7.30 pm until Monday 13 October 6.00am Weekend 2 - Friday 17 October 7.30pm until Monday 20 October 6.00am Weekend 3 - Friday 24 October 7.30pm until Monday 27 October 14 6.00am

Tayside Contracts are undertaking the works through the Dundee Roads Maintenance Partnership.

New £26m medical research centre unveiled in Dundee

A new £26 million medical research centre is to be opened in Dundee.

The Discovery Centre at the University of Dundee will be home to researchers supported by more than £31m of research grants and will create 180 new jobs.

The centre attracted funding from a large number of public, private and charity sources, including a £5m peer-reviewed Wellcome-Wolfson Capital Award in Biomedical Science, which was matched by the university, and a £12m award through the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund.

The facility is being opened by Nobel Prize winner Sir Paul Nurse, president of the Royal Society of London.

Dumfries temporary swimming pool nears completion

Work on a temporary swimming pool, which is being constructed in a car park in Dumfries, is almost complete.

The ‘DG One @ Ice Bowl’ is set to provide swimming facilities to the local area while a 17-month major refurbishment gets underway at the DG One Leisure Complex.

The 25m pool, located in the car park of the Dumfries Ice Bowl, is 1.2m deep has five swimming lanes and can accommodate up to 80 people. It is also fully DDA compliant and features a fully accessible disabled changing area, as well as two Changing Villages.

The facility is expected to open its doors on Monday 6 October.

Engineering firm welcomes £10m expansion

An oil and gas firm is set to relocate to a new facility and create a number of new jobs as part of a £10 million expansion.

Hyspec Engineering Holdings Ltd will move to a new state-of-the-art premises at Moorfields Industrial Estate in Kilmarnock, which will allow the business to increase its manufacturing capabilities. It has said it will also create more than 80 new jobs through the investment.

Builder steps in to answer disabled 10-year-old’s bedroom plea

A disabled boy’s dreams will come true thanks to a building firm.

Lambert Contracts Ltd offered to help 10-year-old Mark Gallagher, from Crookston, Glasgow, after his family started a fundraising appeal to build him a new bedroom.

Mark developed a brain tumour four years ago and has undergone almost 30 operations to save his life. But the intensive treatment has left him with mobility problems and he is no longer able to reach his upstairs bedroom.

Since then he has been sleeping on a bed in the living room and has to have bed baths because he cannot use the upstairs shower.

His parents, Michelle and Chris, were trying to raise £10,000 to transform their unused garage into a bedroom and wet room when they were contacted by the building firm.

They were overjoyed Gary Clark, director of Lambert Contracts Ltd, Paisley, called offering to do the work free.

Charity begins at home in Bathgate

Bakers and coffee lovers at a Bathgate based construction company pulled together to help raise vital funds for Macmillan Cancer Support’s as they took part in the World’s Biggest Coffee Morning.

The team at Persimmon Homes East Scotland baked, iced and lovingly decorated a mountain of cakes for their colleagues to enjoy on 26th September all in aid of the companies chosen charity, Macmillan Cancer Support.

The team of bakers, led by Kirsty Edwards, Stephanie Timmins and Michelle Allen, sold tea, coffee and home-made cakes raising £352.38 for the annual charity event.

Fundraising for Macmillan is nothing new for Persimmon Homes with a constant flow of events throughout the year including a golf event that raised over £8,000 in April.