Building Briefs - January 18th

• CALA unveils first visuals of raised gardens at Leith waterfront development

The new communal gardens at Waterfront Plaza will span approximately 2500 square metres and serve to deliver attractive and sought-after green spaces for residents, something not often offered by urban developments.

Carefully designed and created, these raised gardens total an area of 10 tennis courts, feature generous amounts of seating and a bright southerly aspect and will be finished with artificial grass, paving and attractive planters above, while shielding parking for up to 74 cars below.

Created for recreational use by all residents of the development, the innovative design is the work of Edinburgh-based landscape architecture firm OPEN.

Work is already well underway on the gardens, as well as on an open landscaped walkway connecting directly to key walking and cycling routes. The first section of the gardens is scheduled to open to residents from spring this year.

• Park and ride extension kicks-off at Barrhead train station

Additional park and ride spaces at Barrhead train station have been created by East Renfrewshire Council after purchasing a piece of land from Arthurlie Junior Football Club for the project.

An investment of £600,000 was secured from SPT for the construction of the 50 space car park, which also has capacity for two electric vehicle parking spaces.

Situated to the west of Dunterlie Park, home of Arthurlie FC, off Carlibar Road, the car park was completed in November 2020 and has environmentally beneficial sustainable urban drainage systems installed.

The land used is the football club’s former training ground, which is no longer in use and was bought by the douncil for building the car park. The park and ride extension will improve congestion for Barrhead residents and reduce on-street parking in surrounding streets.

• Drive-thru Starbucks and Burger King near Dundee Airport refusal appealed

A developer has appealed against the decision by councillors to refuse planning permission for a drive-thru Starbucks and Burger King near Dundee Airport.

Early last year, London-based firm GVD submitted a planning application on behalf of Eat & Drive Ltd to build the two facilities and 54 parking spaces, including e-parking, at the bottom of Riverside Avenue.

But the application was refused by Dundee City Council because the proposal does not meet criteria set out in the Dundee Local Development Plan (DLDP).

The site, at the roundabout near to the airport, is earmarked facilities in Class 4 and above, as defined by the economic policy in the DLDP but these proposed units fall into Class 3.

It was also decided the plan was of “poor quality” design, did not have close enough access to public transport and that he firm had not adequately demonstrated there were no other more suitable sites.

However the firm argues the plans have been “carefully designed to complement the existing residential and commercial uses in the area” and is asking councillors to reconsider at a Local Review Body meeting on Tuesday.

• Highland committee commits to securing land for housing

The Highland Council’s Wester Ross, Strathpeffer and Lochalsh committee has committed to securing land for housing purposes. 

During a meeting held last week, committee members had the opportunity to consider the council’s draft Strategic Housing Investment Plan and discuss the projects either underway or about to come on stream in the local area to provide much needed new affordable housing.

Councillor Ian Cockburn, chair of the committee, said: “Securing land is vital if we are to be able to deliver for our communities. It is great to see the work already underway to provide much needed new homes as our communities have been calling out for this especially so young people and families can remain living and working locally. The biggest issue is acquiring the necessary land so I am pleased that further work with landowners will take place so the council can help local housing trusts and communities be able to plan for more top-quality affordable homes where they are most needed.”

Earlier in the committee meeting, Roslyn Clark, local development officer with the Applecross Community Company, gave an update on the work of the local company and highlighted that the Applecross Community Trust is about to start work on a development of three housing units for rent due for completion later this year and have secured land for additional affordable housing for which a feasibility study has been commissioned.

Elsewhere across the area, a project to renovate a property in Plockton to create a two-bedroomed house for rent by the council will be going out to tender shortly, a partnership development by the Highland Council, Highland Communities Housing Trust and Community Woodland at Lochcarron which, subject to planning consent, will deliver up to 27 new properties and in Glenelg, the Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association is developing proposals for four houses for affordable rent.

• Marshalls announces investments of over £30m in 2021

Hard landscaping business Marshalls is investing more than £30 million this year to increase capacity for existing product ranges, build on its sustainable processes and boost product and digital innovation.

In terms of sustainability, this year Marshalls will implement new methods to significantly reduce plastic packaging and also increase the number of solar panels used at key sites. These initiatives will help the business to achieve the ambitious Science-Based carbon reduction targets that it set in 2020.

• UK solar industry body adopts new name

The UK’s solar industry body has unveiled a comprehensive rebrand, including a new name and website and an annual impact report to demonstrate the value it has driven for its members.

The organisation has represented solar in the UK for over 40 years as the Solar Trade Association, supporting the rise of two solar energy technologies to the mainstream, first solar thermal, and in the latter two decades solar PV. As Solar Energy UK, it will continue to serve as the voice of solar in the UK, now incorporating energy storage at all scales. As the costs of the technologies continue to fall, the role of the industry body is to press the case for a flexible, distributed energy system underpinned by solar energy and storage technologies.

The association has undergone significant change in recent years, including successfully pivoting to digital services, putting a trebling of solar in the UK at the heart of its strategy for the decade and now selecting a name that better speaks to its geographical remit and encompasses the entire value-chain.

Solar Energy UK has a comprehensive programme of activity for 2021, firing the starter pistol on the race towards 40GW of solar energy capacity by 2030, with working groups, webinars and workshops for members to get involved in, and a suite of insightful content to galvanise action from the Government and other key stakeholders ahead of COP26.

• NHBC training surpasses 5,000 NVQs in landmark year

NHBC has this month passed a major milestone, having welcomed more than 5,000 candidates through its NVQ training programmes, 20 years since they were first introduced.

Over recent years NHBC’s NVQ offering has been specially tailored to provide a greater focus on key house-building areas, at Levels 3 to 7, mainly around Construction Site Management.

A construction NVQ is a benchmark qualification that proves occupational competence to employers. Some NVQs, which can also be the equivalent of a Bachelor’s degree, lead to membership of professional organisations such as the Chartered Institute of Builders (CIOB) and the Chartered Association of Building Engineers (CABE).

NHBC’s specialist training team have been working remotely throughout the prolonged lockdown to keep up with assessment submissions and new candidate inductions, and look forward to assessing more candidates, remotely, over the coming year.