Building Briefs – September 12th

• Cruden Homes gives back in support of Scottish Housing Day

Potential homeowners can visit any Cruden Homes development right across the country over the weekend of September 14 and 15 to find out more about the high quality, energy-efficient new homes on offer and discover the many benefits of buying new.  

The theme for this year’s Scottish Housing Day on September 18 is ‘Housing as a Human Right’ and celebrates the positive impact that good quality housing makes to the lives of people and communities.

Liz Mallon, sales and marketing director for Cruden Homes, said: “We’re delighted to support Scottish Housing Day. It’s a great opportunity to bring people together to share the benefits of buying a new home and we are pleased to be able to give back by supporting Shelter Scotland with our donations.”

• Housing association reaches milestone in Govanhill buy and repair programme

Govanhill Housing Association’s bid to improve living conditions in the area reached another milestone this week with the purchase of its 300th property.

The milestone marks the halfway point in the current four-year South West Govanhill buy and repair programme to purchase and improve some of the poorest quality housing in the area, thereby raising living conditions while also helping to tackle overcrowding and deliver a more effective system of property management and maintenance.

All 300 of these flats will be renovated to a high standard and then offered for social rent by the Association, increasing the supply of much needed affordable homes in the area. So far, the Association has improved and let over 160 homes with another 120 properties currently being renovated.

• Social landlords team with CityFibre to bring full fibre broadband to tenants

Tenants in Aberdeen and Stirling will be among the first in the country to benefit from next-generation digital connectivity thanks to a partnership between a group of social housing providers and full fibre infrastructure provider CityFibre.

Full fibre digital networks which provide connectivity at gigabit speeds are recognised to be the digital infrastructure of the future for homes and businesses. The UK Government is calling for 100% coverage across the country by 2033 or even earlier.

The housing associations have agreed permission upfront for CityFibre to install full fibre to every property via blanket wayleave agreements, ensuring the network build can go ahead smoothly and tenants can access the connectivity simply and without delay.

In Stirling, CityFibre has secured wayleaves for Forth Housing Association and Stirling Council. Aberdeen City Council is also in full support of the project and excellent progress has been made with the citywide roll-out. Agreements are already in place with Grampian Housing Association, Langstane Housing Association and Castlehill Housing Association in Aberdeen.

• Scottish shipyards set to benefit from £1.25bn contract

 A world-class design for the Royal Navy’s UK-built future frigates has been chosen, with a consortium led by Babcock selected as the preferred bidder.

Babcock’s Rosyth facility is set to carry out a large part of the work following the upcoming departure of HMS Prince of Wales.

The five Type 31 warships will be manufactured using companies across the UK for an average production cost of £250 million per ship. Babcock said the programme will support 1,250 highly skilled jobs across the UK, including around 150 new technical apprenticeships. The company also envisage it will support an additional 1,250 roles within the wider UK supply chain.

Babcock’s Rosyth facility will be the central integration site for the vessel. This will build upon the engineering work undertaken during the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier programme.

Scotland is also benefitting from £1.5 billion of Defence investment in infrastructure over a 10-year period to improve facilities at HM Naval Base Clyde for the arrival of the new class of Deterrent submarines in the mid-2030s and RAF Lossiemouth which will be the base for a fourth Typhoon squadron and nine new maritime patrol aircraft from 2020.  

• Johnsons work with p1 Contractors to supply new TECA development

Commercial nursery Johnsons of Whixley has teamed up with p1 Contractors Ltd to supply over £150,000 worth of plants for The Event Complex Aberdeen (TECA).

Replacing the Aberdeen Exhibition & Conference Centre (AECC), the £330 million development opened in August 2019 and includes a new arena, conference halls, a multi-purpose space, hotels and more.

North Yorkshire nursery Johnsons has supplied Henry Boot and Robertson Group with nearly 40,000 shrubs, 170 three-metre-wide hedera screens, over 30,000 bare-root transplants and more than 400 trees.

Linlithgow-based p1 has been responsible for all the soft landscaping on the project, soiling all areas around the complex along with seeding works and tree, shrub and woodland planting around the site.

• Mactaggart & Mickel helps young people flourish into greenspace champions

Mactaggart & Mickel’s Building Communities Fund has contributed £500 to RSPB Scotland towards its ‘Let Glasgow Flourish’ programme.

This new initiative delivers outdoor educational sessions for school children and young people all over Glasgow to help them better understand and appreciate the importance of biodiversity and conservation.

Let Glasgow Flourish works with schools in low life expectancy, high poverty areas in Glasgow to help reduce stress levels in pupils and increase their motivation to learn. The charity’s aim is for Glasgow’s young people to become greenspace champions, who take ownership of and responsibility for their communities’ greenspaces. The programme also helps foster success, confidence, and responsibility in Scotland’s young people, whilst encouraging them to help protect the future of their country’s wildlife.

RSPB Scotland believes that bringing people closer to nature enriches their lives, and one of their top priorities is that children get enthusiastic and excited about the natural world.

Sessions are carried out in Glasgow’s greenspaces, the ‘green lungs’ of the city, such as public parks, gardens and playing fields. The charity’s aim is for the activities to serve as a natural health service, a children’s outdoor classroom, and an oasis of calm in a busy and vibrant city.

The £500 donation has contributed to funding for volunteer education officers as well as equipment and materials such as spades, forks, trowels and gloves.

• Projects in Eyemouth and Newcastleton invited to make second stage bid for regeneration funding

Regeneration projects in Eyemouth and Newcastleton supported by Scottish Borders Council have been asked by the Scottish Government to submit a second stage bid for funding through its Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

Work is now progressing on the next stage of the process for the Eyemouth Harbour Waterfront Regeneration Project and a proposal for an enterprise centre and bunkhouse in Newcastleton.

The £795,000 Eyemouth project, led by Eyemouth Harbour Trust, is seeking £495,000 from the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund. The council has already committed £300,000 of funding to support the project.

The Newcastleton enterprise centre and bunkhouse project is being led by Newcastleton and District Community Trust, which is looking for almost £530,000 from the fund to upgrade a grade C building in the heart of the community to provide a new local enterprise and learning centre which will be sustained by a bunkhouse.