Building Briefs – September 6th

Plans for a new multi-million-pound secondary school in Perth have been unveiled for the first time.

An artist’s impression shows how the 1,100-capacity Bertha Park development could look. The new Perth and Kinross Council school is part of a £1 billion city expansion being created by award-winning developer Springfield Properties.

Around 3,000 homes are being built on the site and designers of the new secondary school have set aside space in the grounds for a new primary school building, if needed.

Several grass sports fields are planned as part of the £23 million school, as well as an all-weather pitch.

Facilities for pupils with additional support needs will also be provided.

The council successfully secured £15.3m of Scottish Government funds for the new school in July 2012. Later that year, the local authority agreed to pay £7.6m towards the scheme out of its own budget.

Originally, a condition of the funding is that the new school must be up and running by the end of March 2018.

However, the opening date was postponed until 2019 after complaints from parents about the original plan to phase in pupils.

The new school has yet to secure planning consent.

Warm homes guarantee ‘should be government programme priority’

A commitment to ensure everyone in Scotland lives in a warm home and action to address fuel poverty should be priorities for the Scottish Government, campaigners said today.

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon will outline her Programme for Government for the upcoming term in Holyrood this afternoon and WWF Scotland has highlighted key areas expected to feature in the Programme that could create jobs, boost the economy as well as tackle climate change.

Promised in the SNP’s manifesto, a Warm Homes Bill is needed to support the rapid growth of district heating and renewable heat in Scotland. With approximately 50 per cent of Scotland’s emissions coming from heating, WWF Scotland said this would bring clean and green warmth to thousands of homes and create new industrial jobs.

Also with fuel poverty deadlines approaching and households wasting cash and carbon heating leaky homes, the charity argued that increased investment in energy efficiency is needed. A goal must be set to ensure no-one in Scotland is living in a cold & draughty home- meeting this would create 8-9,000 jobs spread across the country, with most of those in small and medium-sized businesses, it said.

WWF Scotland have also called for new Climate Change Bill to focus the whole Parliament on climate change, new climate action and energy strategies for Scotland to be delivered by the end of the year.

GAP Group posts record turnover and recruits for growth

Plant, tool and equipment hire company GAP Group has posted record annual turnover of nearly £158 million, and is confident of increasing its market share as it continues to expand and recruit.

The Glasgow-based company’s latest accounts show pre-tax profits dipped to £15.8m in the year to March 31, from £18.6m in the prior 12 months, reflecting a tough pricing environment and heavy investment in future growth.

However, the profits are nearly double the £8.4m achieved in the year to March 2013, and contrast with sizeable annual pre-tax losses unveiled recently by rivals Speedy Hire and HSS Hire Group.

New visitor centre to be built at Glasgow’s Provanhall House

A new visitor centre is to be built at Provanhall House as part of a £6 million new phase of the Town Centre Action Plan for Easterhouse in Glasgow.

Work will be carried out to restore and expand the existing historic house which will create a gateway to the proposed Seven Lochs Wetland Park.

Provanhall House, which is set in Auchinlea Park on the west side of Easterhouse close to the M8, is regarded as the best-preserved medieval fortified country house in Scotland.

The north part of the visitor attraction was built around the 1460s as a base for administering the surrounding 5000 acre estate.

The Medieval buildings are category A listed and of national significance as they are regarded as unique survivors of their type.

Provanhll is owned by the National Trust for Scotland and leased to Glasgow City Council.

In July this year, the Heritage Lottery Fund confirmed a £4.5m grant towards the £6.8m cost of the wetland park project which will be carried out over the next five years.

Aberdeen Art Gallery fit-out work starts

Work has got underway on the interior fit out of the £30 million redevelopment of Aberdeen Art Gallery.

Being spearheaded by Hoskins Architects, the project will see the A-listed civic space converted into an arts venue.

It will include 21 new exhibition and display galleries as well as improved visitor facilities alongside transformation of Cowdray Hall into a performance space and refurbishment of the Memorial Hall as a place of quiet contemplation.

To accommodate these functions a new wing will be built to the rear whilst a pitched roof and parapets on the main building will make way for a new sculptural copper-clad penthouse level hosting temporary galleries and a learning zone.

Retirement housing approved in Glasgow

Glasgow City Council has approved plans for a new retirement housing development in Pollockshields.

The Evening Times reports that the site at 69 Springkell Avenue will be redeveloped into 56 one and two bedroom apartments designed for people over 60.

Feedback from community consultation events held by developer McCarthy & Stone saw several changes made to plans including reducing the size, removing balconies and reconfiguring the internal layout, to maximise privacy for neighbouring properties.

The exterior colour was changed to complement the red sandstone of the tenement buildings nearby and site access was moved nearer to Springkell Avenue to minimise disruption.

Plans for new facilities at Tweedbank Station

ScotRail has announced it will create new facilities at Tweedbank Station.

New toilets and a kiosk are due to be completed in early 2017.

Scottish Borders Council leader David Parker has welcomed news which came on the same day the Borders Railway celebrated its first anniversary.

Councillor Parker said: “Funding for this project has come from ScotRail and the Borders Railway Blueprint Group, which aims to deliver a range of economic benefits and encourage businesses to take advantage of the many development opportunities available in the region, which has been opened up to a greater audience by the Borders Railway.”

Phase four of the Leith Programme gets underway

Work is set to begin on the next stage of a major project to improve Leith Walk.

Phase Four of the Leith Programme, between Pilrig Street and McDonald Road, will get under way in September, lasting approximately ten months.

Contractors Land Engineering Ltd are now on site, with construction expected to end in summer 2017.

Improvements include the introduction of dedicated off road cycle lanes, as part of a design that will take into account the potential for extending the city’s tram line to Leith. Early enabling works have been incorporated to ensure minimum disruption should the decision to extend be taken in 2017.

Limited surveying and investigative work will also take place at the Bernard Street and Constitution Street junction as part of this, beginning this week.

New East Ayrshire primary school extension underway

Children, staff and invited guests have celebrated the start of work on the new £778,500 extension at Fenwick Primary School in East Ayrshire.

The modern single-storey extension will feature a new gym/assembly hall, kitchen, store and toilet block.

Internal work will involve converting the existing gym into two new classrooms with a link corridor; creating a new staff room and office, and converting the existing staff room into a new reception and office.

Work on the extension, being carried out by Fleming Buildings Limited, began in July and is currently on schedule to be completed in spring 2017.

The contractor has been working with pupils to carry out a project about the extension and plans to get the children onsite and involved in the building process.

Planning sought for Dalmarnock primary school

Glasgow City Council’s development and regeneration services department has filed plans for a new primary school in Dalmarnock.

The school has been conceived to augment ongoing regeneration around the Commonwealth Village.

In their design statement the council wrote: “The double height gym/assembly block flanks Sunnybank Street, forming an active edge to both the street and the pedestrian path.”

Roads maintenance project to begin in Kirkwall

A roads maintenance project is to begin in the Orkney Islands.

Workers will start resurfacing three roundabouts along the harbour front in Kirkwall as well as a section of Grainshore Road from Monday, 12 September.

The St Catherine’s Place roundabout is the first junction to undergo resurfacing works, with further work on the Kiln Corner roundabout taking place on Monday, 19 September.

Maintenance work on Ayre Road roundabout will begin from Monday, 26 September. Each roundabout will take around one week to resurface.

The final week-long resurfacing works on Grainshore Road are scheduled to begin on Monday, 03 October.

Midlothian play park opens

A new £105,000 play park has opened in Midlothian.

The council has redeveloped a formerly derelict 2.2 hectare acre site in Gorebridge into a new community facility.

Features of Auld Gala Park include an orchard, a wildflower meadow, planted areas, new paths and woodland. In addition, a synthetic mesh geogrid has been installed beneath the sites surface to support the landscape which is located on old mine workings.

Funding for the scheme came from various ‘pots’ from council budgets and from Central Scotland Green Network. If further funding is secured, the council plans to install new play facilities for young people.