Building Briefs – September 28th

Work on the first of Argyll and Bute Council’s Lorn Arc projects, a business park access scheme at Oban Airport, is going well.

The excavation work is now complete, with an extra 1000 tonnes of earth removed to level the site.

Soft spots has also been excavated, capped and reinforced.

Other work has included initial ducting, which is vital to providing the future services to the site, as well as the start of drainage system construction.

This £600,000 scheme will see access improvements to the Oban airport site to open up a business park opportunity and will be delivered in two phases – the road itself first then the site specification after that.

The 150 metres of two-lane carriageway and single sided footway, with associated service ducting, drainage and street lighting, is expected to be complete by November 2015.

Premier Inn extension programme continues

Construction works have completed on extension annexes to the Premier Inns at Aberdeen South and Falkirk Central.

The 21 bed extension annexe at Aberdeen South will take the total number of bedrooms to 113 and the 29 bed extension annexe at Falkirk Central will take the total number of rooms to 51. The construction works carried out by Ogilvie Construction.

Construction works also began this week on the extension to East Kilbride Central Premier Inn. The 17 bed extension will bring the total number of bedrooms to 57. The construction works are being carried out Marshall Construction.

These extensions are a number of projects in Scotland for Premier Inn, designed by lma | architects and planning consultants, currently on site or in the design stages.

Clydebank gymnastics club get green light to move into new home

Councillors have approved the change of use of a vacant industrial unit in Clydebank Business Park to allow it to now operate as a leisure facility.

The decision paves the way for Dynamite Gymnastics Club, which currently runs classes out of four separate venues, move to a permanent new home.

The club is currently based at Yoker Sports Centre, but also uses Clydebank Play Drome and facilities in Easterhouse and Renfrew.

Second phase of public realm work in Oban taking shape

Over £2 million of public realm improvements around Oban Bay set to be completed by summer 2016

Argyll and Bute Council’s ambitious public realm improvement project in Oban is taking shape, with the contractor, Land Engineering, having developed an outline programme for the work.

Major construction work will start on site on Monday 4th January 2016 and is expected to be completed by summer 2016. The tender for the contract indicated a start on site in October, however, after the contractor’s expert civil engineers considered what the work involved they determined that it would be more sensible to start in the New Year.

When the work begins the contractor will be aiming to complete the shopfront side of George Street and Station Square first, with the seaward side going ahead last.

Public consultation to be held on West Lothian LDP

A public consultation on the new West Lothian Local Development Plan (LDP) is to be held.

The revised plan will set the approach to development for housing, infrastructure and business up to 2024.

The LDP identifies development sites and developer requirements to contribute towards the provision of infrastructure, including supporting the delivery of new schools.

It is understood over 19,000 houses are proposed, with the majority in the Core Development Areas of Armadale, East Broxburn/Uphall/Winchburgh and the Almond Valley at Calderwood, East Calder and West Livingston.

The plan also supports development at Heartlands in Whitburn and the former Bangour hospital in Dechmont.

Development is to be focused on brownfield land where possible. However, there will still be a need for greenfield sites to contribute towards development requirements.

The LDP proposes to relax the ‘area of restraint’ in Linlithgow, to allow limited development to be permitted in the future.

The six week community consultation will take place in autumn.

It is expected the LDP will be adopted by early 2017, with Scottish Ministers also scrutinising the plan and making recommendations on its content.