Building Briefs – October 24th

• Maxim Office Park sold for £38m

Located along the M8 motorway between Glasgow and Edinburgh, Maxim comprises 756,000 sq ft of flexible office space across ten buildings positioned within landscaped gardens.

Current tenants include Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA), Regus, Wills Bros, Europa Logistics, Sure Thing Insurance, Allied Glass, Balfour Beatty, TC BioPharm, Lamellar Biomedical, Document Data Group, Proact IT, Vaillant and Berits & Brown.

Broadoak more than doubled occupation at the Park since it took over as asset manager in July 2015, with 15 new tenants arriving since then. Public transport services were also increased to now offer up to 185 busses per day and additional on-site amenities including retail offerings, outdoor sports equipment and electric vehicle charging points were also implemented.

• Vibrant future planned for South Ayrshire sport and athletics

Plans to transform access to sport and athletics in South Ayrshire are gathering momentum.

South Ayrshire Council is working on a number of high-quality, linked initiatives to improve sport and facilities in Ayr, in partnership with several community groups.

The first part of this programme will see a major project to deliver new state-of-the-art sports facilities next to Ayr Academy in the Craigie Estate. The project was outlined in the March 2018 budget, with a budget of £4.7 million made available.

The project will create a new eight-lane running track with a grass infield for field sports such as long jump, discus and javelin, alongside flexible storage space, associated changing pavilion and car parking.

This comes as the council continues constructive discussions with Ayr Rugby Football Club about relocating to play its games in the town centre at Dam Park Stadium. The move would help raise the profile of the club through its involvement in the new ‘Super Six’ format for Scotland. The move would also help contribute towards Ayr town centre regeneration by increasing footfall on match days.

Discussions are also ongoing with Whitletts Victoria Football Club around them relocating from Dam Park to play their games at Whitletts. This project involves improving existing facilities to serve community and sporting needs, providing a long-term home for the club.

Importantly, the initiatives are all linked and the sequence of improvements outlined will only be possible if the existing users at Dam Park are successfully relocated, with discussions currently ongoing and making positive progress.

• Fife site manager awarded top industry prize

A Fife-based site manager has achieved a Seal of Excellence award for his contribution to providing high-quality housing at Miller Homes’ Regents Gate development in Crossgates.

Calum Punton was one of 17 site managers collecting the highly coveted accolade at The Hilton Hotel in Glasgow.

The Pride in the Job awards, organised by insurance provider NHBC, recognised Calum Punton’s dedication to building new homes to an exceptional standard.

Calum previously competed against 53 other site managers who received a Quality Award in the first round of the awards – beating over 16,000 entries across the UK.

As further proof of his commitment and dedication, Calum has received two promotions since receiving the Quality Award, becoming senior site manager and, as of this month, contracts manager.

He has also been personally congratulated for his commitment to developing quality new homes at the Regents Gate development in Crossgates by West Fife MSP, Douglas Chapman.

• Fife affordable housing programme makes progress

Fife Council’s ambitious Affordable Housing Programme is making progress with the start of construction of new very sheltered accommodation in Glenrothes.

Located on Napier Road at the site of the Napier House Care Home, all 31 flats will be brand new council housing and form part of a care village.

The Affordable Housing Programme is a partnership across Fife Council, the Fife Housing Association Alliance, Scottish Government and private developers. It has committed to building 3,500 affordable homes by 2022.

• Dorry McLaughlin steps down as Viewpoint CEO

Viewpoint Housing Association CEO Dorry McLaughlin is to step down after eight years in the role.

Dorry will leave Viewpoint at the end of November to join Scottish Autism.

Viewpoint said: “The Board and Executive are very grateful for the stewardship and dedication Dorry has shown during her time with us. As well as her absolute belief in our mission of creating joy in later years. We know she will be missed by the Board, staff, tenants and residents alike and we wish her every success in her new role.

“This marks a new beginning for Viewpoint and our new CEO will be central to the direction of Viewpoint’s next 70 years. They will provide essential leadership of the team taking us forward with the development of the extra care facility at Glenesk and provide fresh thinking on new initiatives arising out of the asset review currently being undertaken.”

Howard Vaughan, director of finance and assets, will co-ordinate the leadership provided by the Executive Team in the interim.

• Immediate action needed to meet minimum Gypsy/Travellers site standards

Social landlords must take immediate action to ensure their sites and pitches meet the minimum site standards set by the Scottish Government, a new Scottish Housing Regulator report has found. 

The report on social landlords’ progress towards the Scottish Government’s minimum site standards shows that over half of social landlords did not meet the standards by the deadline of June 2018. 

The Regulator found that 14 of the 27 Gypsy/Traveller sites across Scotland failed to meet the standards. The main reasons for the failures were energy efficiency, safety & security and ensuring residents have an occupancy agreement. 

• Proportion of homes bought with cash reaches lowest level on record

The proportion of homes in the UK bought with cash fell to 29.6% in the first half of 2018, according to estate agents Hamptons International, the lowest level since the company’s records began.

Hamptons International’s records started in H1 2007 when 33.6% of homes were purchased with cash and peaked in H2 2008 when 37.8% of homes in the UK were bought without a mortgage.

In H1 2018, 113,490 homes were cash purchases, totalling £25.3 billion in value according to Land Registry – the lowest level in five years.

And 21% less than the number of purchases in H1 2017 (144,350) which totalled £31.2 billion in value.

In Scotland, 31% of home purchases were made in the first six months of this year without a mortgage.

Hamptons said the downward trend in the proportion of homes bought with cash reflects a drop off in investor and developer purchases.