Building Briefs – September 5th

• Housing minister warned of need for partnership working on private tenements

Earlier this week, at the Forum’s invitation, housing minister Kevin Stewart visited Milnbank Housing Association in Glasgow’s East End to look at how close partnership working between the Association and Glasgow City Council has been trying to address disrepair and introduce long term factoring arrangements in fully private blocks.

A combination of Scottish Government energy funding (HEEPS) and council support for owners’ costs has enabled works to the common parts of a number of pre-1919 blocks.

The minister was able to compare and contrast the improved blocks with those where no work had yet been possible.

GWSF director David Bookbinder said: “We really welcome the minister’s willingness to take a first-hand look at the challenges housing associations and their local authority partners are facing. We could quietly ignore what’s happening to private tenements, but community-based housing associations can see that crumbling tenements will steadily lead to an overall decline in the sustainability and desirability of the local area.

“The minister put great emphasis on the value of acquisitions of private flats, funded through the mainstream affordable housing supply programme. This is very welcome, but we were keen to stress to him that there will be many tenement blocks where acquisition isn’t the answer and we have to find ways of working with owners, using the right mix of sticks and carrots.”

• Consultation launched on affordable housing need in Blairgowrie

A public consultation has been launched to find out what kind of affordable housing is needed in Blairgowrie.

The consultation for Perth & Kinross Council will be carried out by Rural Housing Scotland, a charity which aims to help create more affordable housing options in rural communities.

The Blairgowrie community will be asked what different housing options they think are needed in the area, and the information gathered will help guide the future development of affordable housing to ensure it meets the needs and aspirations of local people.

To get people’s views Rural Housing Scotland will hold a number of public events in the Blairgowrie area throughout September and October 2019.

The first event will be on September 8 from 10am to 5pm at the Blairgowrie and Rattray Highland Games, Bogles Field, Essendy Road, where people can hear more about different housing options and find out how they can take part in the consultation.

A second event will be held on September 30 from 4pm to 9pm at Blairgowrie Community Campus, Elm Drive.

Rural Housing Scotland will host an exhibition and ask local people to provide their views on housing needs and housing pressures in the area.

For further information please contact Rural Housing Scotland at derek@ruralhousingscotland.org or HKettles@pkc.gov.uk.

• Glasgow to host UN conference on city living next week

A United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) conference on city living will be held in Glasgow on September 11-13.

The UNECE is one of five global economic and social commissions within the United Nations and is therefore very influential in terms of contributing to major UN policy documents such as the 2015 Paris Agreement, the New Urban Agenda, Transforming Our World - Agenda 2030, and the 2013 Charter on Sustainable Housing.

The conference, which will take place at New Gorbals Housing Association and Glasgow Caledonian University, will largely be attended by people interested in ‘making liveable places’ - community representatives, planners, architects and urbanist - who will meet visitors from the UN and expert leaders in the field.

Internationally renowned keynote speakers include James Stockard (Harvard University Graduate School of Design), who will look at differences in ‘liveability’ between Massachusetts and Scotland, and Pam Warhurst, the inspiration behind the Incredible Edible initiative in Yorkshire, who will talk about the importance and opportunity of community growing. Other prominent speakers include the City Architect for Aarhus in Denmark.

The Glasgow Place Commission, led by Glasgow’s first City Urbanist Professor Brian Evans and supported by a number of leading independent commissioners, will be launched at the conference alongside a partnership between the Academy of Urbanism and the Glasgow Urban Laboratory to support, develop and grow support for urbanism and urbanists in Scotland.

A draft Glasgow Declaration on City Living will be discussed by delegates at the conference before it is sent to the UNECE Committee for Housing and Land Management in October.

During the time at New Gorbals Housing Association, delegates will see social housing in the area before going to other parts of the city to see homes built by other community-led housing associations.

More information on the conference is available here.

• Fund delivers £2.5m to enhance South Lanarkshire town centres

More than £2.5 million is to be invested in projects that will revitalise town centres across South Lanarkshire.

The funding will assist ten projects after the allocation process was opened up for groups in all parts of the council area to make their case for a share of the Town Centre Capital Grant Fund.

South Lanarkshire Council’s community and enterprise committee approved the selection of the ten projects that were successful from the 26 who had applied, and agreed the recommendations of the amounts to be granted to each.

The successful projects will share a fund of £2,506,000 from a Scotland-wide fund of £50m that was allocated to invest in town centres.

• Designs sought for Dundee Waterfront development

Dundee City Council is to invite proposals for a new unique space bringing art, technology and play together at Dundee’s waterfront.

The whole plot will consist of an interactive play-park, water features, active travel hub and an urban beach.

Prospective developers will be invited to submit proposals to Dundee City Council, ahead of a tender report for the main works brought to city development committee in December.

The play-park design winner will be decided by representatives from Dundee City Council, Abertay University, Dundee University, St Andrews University and V&A Dundee.

As part of the tender report, the city development committee will be asked to approve the successful winner of the design competition to take forward the design of their proposals.

• Shoosmiths moves into Glasgow

Shoosmiths has today confirmed the opening of a Glasgow hub, building on the success of its Edinburgh office and further extending Shoosmiths’ operational footprint in Scotland.

Barry McKeown, who recently joined Shoosmiths growing real estate team as a partner, is responsible for further developing the firm’s presence in the west of Scotland.

The hub is based within the Spaces development on West Regent Street in Glasgow city centre.

• Fewer properties come to market as selling prices rise, ESPC data reveals

Over the past three months, the average selling price of properties in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was £259,833 – a five per cent increase compared to the previous year. In Edinburgh, the average selling price was £283,398, a 6.4 per cent increase compared to last year.

In the capital, the property type which saw the greatest year-on-year increase in average selling price was three bedroom houses in Blackhall, Davidsons Mains, Silverknowes, Barnton, Cramond and Cammo, rising by 12.6 per cent to £436,398. Two-bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa saw a 12 per cent year-on-year increase in average selling price.

There was also a significant increase in the average selling price of Midlothian properties, rising by 9.2 per cent to £218,506. Meanwhile, prices dipped by 15.7 per cent in West Lothian, dropping to £189,310. This is due to a greater proportion of higher value homes sold in the area last year. In the Scottish Borders, the average selling price fell by 11.7 per cent to £210,169. This is also due to a greater proportion of higher value properties being sold last year.

Across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders, the sales volume over these three months was 0.7 per cent higher than last year, and 0.4 per cent higher in Edinburgh specifically. This is a much less marked increase than from May to July 2019, due to a slowdown in sales in August specifically. This is likely due to a decreasing number of properties coming to the market in recent months. Over the past three months, the number of properties coming to market across all areas decreased by 6.4 per cent and by 5.4 per cent in Edinburgh.

The median selling time in Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders was 21 days, three days slower than last year. In Edinburgh, the median selling time was 19 days, also three days slower than last year. One-bedroom flats in Leith Walk, Easter Road, Pilrig and Bonnington, and two-bedroom flats in Portobello and Joppa, boasted the shortest median selling time at 13 days.

Across Edinburgh, the Lothians, Fife and the Borders over the past three months, the average percentage of home report valuation achieved was 103.5 per cent compared to 105 per cent last year. In Edinburgh, it was 105 per cent compared to 106.9 per cent last year. One-bedroom flats in Dalry, Gorgie, Slateford and Chesser achieved the highest average percentage of home report valuation at 108.5 per cent.

The property type with the greatest sales volume over the past three months was three bedroom houses in Dunfermline, followed closely by one and two-bedroom flats in Leith.

• Launch of revamped active travel route at Lower Granton Road

Some of Edinburgh’s youngest generation of cyclists pedalled through the rain to officially open a newly-improved active travel route beside Lower Granton Road.

Pupils from Trinity Primary helped test out the upgraded shared-use path along McKelvie Parade, which forms part of the city’s QuietRoute cycling and walking network.

The £650k Places for Everyone scheme, funded by Transport Scotland through Sustrans, aims to enhance the route between Trinity Junction and Granton Square. It has seen the existing path widened and extended, better connecting to the North Edinburgh Path Network at Trinity Path, as well as the installation of a new toucan crossing near Granton Square.

The development of designs has been influenced by feedback gathered as part of a consultation with the local community.