Building Briefs - September 23rd

• New nursery provision and schools add up for Aberdeen

New and refurbished buildings helped Aberdeen City Council meet its commitment of expanding funded early learning and childcare from 600 hours to 1,140 hours a year from August 2021.

The delivery of high quality play spaces is helping to meet targets in the Local Outcome Improvement Plan, ranging from health and wellbeing to educational goals.

The £23 million ELC programme comprises 27 projects, including eight new standalone facilities. As of work week ending 10 September, 24 projects have been completed and handed over, one is on site and two will be starting in the next month.

The committee was also updated on work to replace two schools as part of a £100m new build programme, which also includes new primaries in Torry and Countesswells.

The new £21.9m Milltimber Primary School is due to be completed in spring next year and will have capacity for 434 pupils and 60 early learning places, while the new £31.1m Riverbank Primary School is on course to be ready in Summer 2023 and will have capacity for 651 pupils and 100 early learning places.

• Lord Norman Foster to chair RIBA Stirling Prize Jury

The RIBA has announced Lord Norman Foster as chair of the 2021 Stirling Prize jury.

Lord Foster will be joined on the jury by Simon Allford (RIBA president), architect Annalie Riches (2019 RIBA Stirling Prize winner) and artist Dame Phyllida Barlow. The jury will be advised by architect Mina Hasman (sustainability expert).

RIBA President, Simon Allford said: “Lord Foster’s reputation as an architecture pioneer, is demonstrated by an extraordinary array of exceptional projects - uniquely including three Stirling Prizes - so we are delighted that he will Chair this year’s RIBA Stirling Prize jury.

“Our 2021 shortlist illustrates the ideas, innovation and ambition that underpin great architecture, and there is no doubt that with Lord Foster’s steer, there will be engaging debate and deliberation as we decide the winner.”

The jury will visit each of the six projects on the shortlist and together select a winner, which will be announced on October 14at Sir Basil Spence’s Coventry Cathedral, as part of the UK City of Culture 2021 celebrations.

• Work to start on new Aberdeen community hub

A new primary school including early learning and childcare provision and a community facility on the site of the former Torry Academy in Aberdeen is on course to be completed by Summer 2023. 

The new Torry Hub will bring together in one place a range of services which will create synergies and a shared purpose to provide an environment where social, economic, educational, recreational and cultural activities can occur, and service provision gaps can be closed. It is intended that the Torry Community Hub will deliver the opportunity to provide localised whole family support for children, young people and adult family members.

A report to committee said the brief and design for the project was developed in conjunction with the intended and potential users of the new facility, including Torry Locality Partnership.

It is intended that the Torry Community Hub will deliver the opportunity to provide localised whole family support for children, young people and adult family members. The new Community Hub will provide a two-stream primary school with a capacity for 434 pupils, Early Learning & Childcare (ELC) provision for 100 pupils, a community cafe, library, multi-purpose rooms, offices and meeting spaces for service providers, recording facilities, performance and rehearsal facilities, a 3G 7 a-side-pitch, and external outdoor play and learning spaces.

The report said contractors have been removing materials containing asbestos and the demolition of the former Torry Academy. As has been verbally reported to committee previously, these works have been significantly delayed as a result of the discovery of additional materials containing asbestos and have also been further delayed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the construction industry.

hub North Scotland is currently completing its commercial proposals, in conjunction with their supply chain, so as to take into account the currently understood implications of Covid, and also the construction industry wide materials availability and inflation issues. Both the council and hub North Scotland seek to achieve commercial close as early as previously after the demolition works have been completed and this is likely to be achieved in October 2021.

• Seven figure funding secured for creation of Eddleston Water Path

Over £2 million of funding has been secured for the creation of an active travel path between Peebles and Eddleston with construction on the project due to start later this year.

Funding from the Scottish Government and South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE) will help support Scottish Borders Council’s delivery of a multi-use active travel path for walkers, cyclists, wheelers and horse riders between the two areas.

It forms part of a campaign aiming to encourage more active travel in the region and make the Peebles and Eddleston areas more appealing places to walk, cycle or wheel.

The project has been developed in partnership between the council, Peebles Community Trust, Sustrans, South of Scotland Enterprise (SOSE), Peebles Community Council, Eddleston Community Council.

A full planning application for the path has been approved with construction set to commence in November 2021.

It is anticipated that the project will be completed in the spring of 2022.

• Development projects combined to create world-leading offshore wind farm opportunity

As Scotland’s Climate Week draws to a close, SSE Renewables has announced that it is combining two proposed offshore wind farms into one super project development which would accelerate Scotland’s net zero ambitions and help tackle the climate crisis.

Berwick Bank and Marr Bank offshore wind farms, off the east coast of Scotland, have been brought together into one single wind farm – now known as Berwick Bank Wind Farm.

With a potential output of 4.1GW, Berwick Bank Wind Farm would more than double the size of current offshore wind either in construction or operational in Scotland at the moment. It would also increase the country’s overall renewable energy capacity by nearly 30%.

The project will be capable of generating enough clean, renewable energy to power over five million homes, equivalent to all of Scotland’s households twice over, and avoiding eight million tonnes of carbon dioxide every year – similar to removing all of Scotland’s annual car emissions.

Berwick Bank Wind Farm is already at an advanced stage of development, with a planning application which is expected to go to the Scottish Government in Spring 2022.

If consented and greenlit for construction, it could begin generating clean electricity in the second half of this decade and play a key role in helping Scotland meet its near-term net zero targets of generating up to 11GW new offshore wind by 2030.