Building Briefs – September 5th

Ashleigh Scotland partnership reaches 500 new homes milestone

Loreburn Housing Association and construction company Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd have recently completed their 500th new home as a partnership.

The latest completed project is a development of 23 new properties for social rental in Kirkcudbright.

Built on the site of a former school, the homes are a mix of flats, bungalows, family houses and supported accommodation for customers with specialist needs.

The Kirkcudbright homes are the latest additions to Loreburn Housing Association’s increasing stock of over 2,200 properties across Dumfries and Galloway. Loreburn’s vision is to “create great places to live” and they plan to provide a further 180 homes over the next three years. Another development of eight new homes in central Dumfries is due for completion later this year.

Throughout the partnership with Loreburn, Ashleigh has employed a core base of joiners, bricklayers and decorators from the Dumfries and Galloway area. The partnership’s strong commitment to young people is shown by the creation of 65 apprenticeships for local people. During each project with Loreburn, Ashleigh has also implemented a number of community initiatives, including career days and mock interview events at local secondary schools, competitions for primary schools and sponsorship of local sports clubs.

Stephen to build Aberdeenshire cottages

Perthshire housebuilders Stephen is to build 20 cottages within Scotland’s largest new town.

The firm plans to build the single storey two and three bedroom semi and detached bungalow style homes at Chapelton, just outside Aberdeen.

CGC achieves ISO accreditation

City Gate Construction (CGC) has announced a boost for its business after winning ISO 9001 accreditation.

The construction company which has its headquarters in Renfrewshire and offices in Ayrshire and the north of England has secured ISO 9001:2015.

It is the second major step forward for CGC in the last few weeks.

In August it won “CE accreditation” – a European endorsement confirming CGC meets rigorous quality requirements in the fabrication of its steel products.

The ISO 9001:2015 accreditation covers all of CGC’S divisions which includes maintenance, construction, refurbishment, bespoke joinery, manufacturing, blacksmith work and structural steel manufacture.

The two accolades reflect the fast-moving expansion of CGC which works for high-profile customers including many councils, housing associations, plc’s and blue chip companies throughout the UK.

Gary Tracey, financial controller at CGC, said obtaining the ISO Standard marked another advance for CGC.

CGC was created in 2003 and currently employs over 120 people.

CCG begins £2.1m Inverclyde community facility project

CCG has begun work to develop a new £2.1 million community facility in Inverclyde.

The contractor is building the Horticultural Training & Community Centre in Mearns Street, Greenock. The facility is scheduled to open in June 2017.

The centre is being developed for Inverclyde Association of Mental Health and will feature a new community hall, coffee shop, training & meeting rooms. In addition, new dedicated office space will be built for the organisation’s trading subsidiary In-work Enterprises Ltd.

Another building will be developed to house horticultural services, with the project’s second phase seeing the addition of outdoor space for planting and green houses on the adjacent Blaes pitch site.

Edinburgh canal set for £330,000 towpath transformation

Scottish Canals is set to transform Edinburgh’s canal at Fountainbridge with a £330,000 programme of works which will see the area benefit from towpath upgrades, improved landscaping and new moorings by the new Boroughmuir High School.

With the new Boroughmuir High School opening in 2017 and further development expected in the surrounding area, Scottish Canals, Sustrans Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council are planning a series of works to ensure even more people can safely enjoy the Union Canal.

The works also form the first phase of a wider towpath improvement strategy that will see the area alongside the new Fountainbridge Green and high school mark the start of the route along the canal to the city centre.

The programme of works will include, towpath upgrades, landscaping, repairs to the canal wall, essential archaeological surveying and the installation of new moorings.

Works will get underway today and will last approximately four months with the towpath being closed at different intervals during this time.

Stewart Milne Group wins seventh consecutive safety award

National house builder and timber systems manufacturer Stewart Milne Group has won its seventh consecutive Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) gold award for occupational health and safety.

In recognition of the seven-year success, RoSPA will present the Stewart Milne Group with the prestigious Gold Medal Award at its Occupational Health and Safety Awards ceremony in Glasgow on September 15.

The award demonstrates Stewart Milne Group’s ongoing commitment to raising health and safety standards. RoSPA award winners must demonstrate a rigorous approach to occupational health, have proven, robust health and safety management systems and a reduction in the number of accidents.

Further demonstrating the group’s commitment to safety, three members of staff from Stewart Milne Homes received commended awards at the NHBC safety awards.

Brenden Clarke, who is based at the Depenbech Rise development in Malpas, Nick Athorn, who is based at the Cookes Meadow development in Northwich and Mark Dwyer, who is based at the Courtyard in Dunblane, all received awards.

61 per cent of Scots back a ‘fully renewable’ powered future

Scottish ministers should embrace a vision to make Scotland the EU’s first fully renewable electricity nation, campaigners have said today.

The call by WWF Scotland comes as the group published opinion polling data revealing that 61 per cent of the Scottish public “would like to see a Scotland that generates all of its electricity from our abundant renewable resources”.

The Scottish Government will publish a work programme for the year ahead later this week, and it is widely expected to include plans to develop a new energy strategy for the country.

The opinion polling data is published after a month of “positive progress” on renewables in Scotland:

Moray planning hearing rescheduled

A hearing into plans to demolish a former Lhanbryde hotel and replace it with a shop unit has been rescheduled for November, Moray Council has revealed.

The original hearing was deferred in June over a land ownership issue.

Around 130 objections have been submitted against the proposal to demolish the Tennant Arms Hotel and build a shop unit with car parking.

The rescheduled hearing will take place at a special meeting of Moray Council’s planning and regulatory services committee on Wednesday, November 2.

The original recommendation by planning officers to grant planning permission subject to conditions remains unchanged.

Councillors to consider grant for Clydebank trampolining centre

Councillors are being asked to approve a grant of £100,000 to support a local business aiming to open a world-class trampolining facility in Clydebank, which could create up to 40 jobs.

RMS Leisure has already submitted an application to take over a vacant unit in Clydebank Business Park in order to set-up Airzone – as the venture would be called.

The business is seeking a loan from the West of Scotland Loan Fund (WSLF) to help finance planning costs, building improvements, capital purchases and provide working capital through the start-up period.

The RMS Leisure loan application has already been approved by the WSLF Board and will now go before Councillors at the Infrastructure, Regeneration and Economic Development on Wednesday 14 September.

Airzone, which would be designed to appeal to all age groups and abilities, has still to gain the necessary planning approvals as well.

As part of the plans it is proposed that the number of car parking spaces at the site would increase from 12 to 51.

Glasgow renewable energy firm shortlisted for two awards

Glasgow based SPV Energy, the renewable energy firm who specialise in commercial and domestic solar photovoltaic and commercial biomass, is celebrating a double success having been shortlisted for two top industry awards.

The company is the only Scottish business to be shortlisted for the Solar PV category within the ‘National Energy Efficiency and Retrofit Awards’ which take place in Birmingham on September 16 and are hosted by actress, Joanna Lumley.

The following month on October 6, the business will be joining finalists at the Glasgow Business Awards, having been shortlisted in the ‘Green Champion’ category. Sponsored by the Bank of Scotland, The Glasgow Awards take place in the city’s Hilton Hotel.

Earlier in the year the firm was awarded “Solar PV Installer of the Year 2016” at the Regional Energy Efficiency Awards in March.

SPV Energy employs 35 local people from its head office in Shettleston, just two miles from the Athletes Village in the East End, working on behalf of householders, housing associations and commercial clients.

Ochil View to end suspension of development programme

Ochil View Housing Association has announced its intention to end the suspension of its development programme during its Annual General Meeting last month.

Around 40 members, tenants, guests, committee members and staff attended Alloa’s Town Hall to also hear chairperson Tom Brown and auditors Alexander Sloan both report excellent financial results for the year.

Tom Brown’s annual statement equally highlighted the extent to which the Association was listening to its tenants with the commencement of a £2 million shower installation programme, which was a priority action from the Association’s 2013 customer satisfaction survey.

Craig Sanderson, the chief executive of Link Group, who spoke at the event, argued passionately that the Scottish Government’s target to build 50,000 houses within the next 5 years was deliverable (if RSLs and local authorities stepped up to the plate).

Craig congratulated the Association on its intention to recommence building new homes and for its partnership arrangement with Kingdom Housing Association - as that was what was required – and with all major impediments now having been removed it simply was a case of RSLs and local authorities “getting on with it”.

Little building site launched in Dundee

As construction on the new V&A Museum of Design Dundee gathers pace, local toddlers are being offered the chance to dig into their own mini building site just a few minutes’ walk away.

Dundee Science Centre is unveiling its brand new ‘Little Building Site’ for children aged three to five years old.

Wannabe builders can get stuck in, quite literally, to the sandy site packed with everything from a ride-on digger, foam bricks and dressing up gear to tools and plastic cement mixer from Monday 5 September through to the end of January 2017.

Aisha Schofield, exhibitions and community engagement officer, said: “Sand play allows Early Years to explore and experiment within the limits of their imagination. It’s a fantastic opportunity to experience and shape their own 3D worlds through sensory play, with endless potential for creation and recreation.”