Building Briefs – June 27th

Dundee’s newest hotel to open for ‘The Open’

Sleeperz Hotel Dundee, a new 120-bed waterfront hotel, will open on July 9 - just in time for The Open Golf Championship taking place 12 miles away in Carnoustie.

Enjoying an iconic location at the gateway to Dundee, Sleeperz Hotels will officially open its fourth UK property above the redeveloped Dundee Railway Station with a team of 40 staff ready to welcome guests and golf fans.

The hotel’s bar and lounge enjoy panoramic views over the River Tay, neighbouring V&A Museum of Design Dundee – opening September 15 – and the RRS Discovery, one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.

The hotel is part of a £14 million redevelopment of Dundee Railway Station managed by Dundee City Council and constructed by Balfour Beatty.

Since opening for business Sleeperz Hotels has won a string of awards including two awards for architectural excellence from the Royal Institute of British Architects, for Cardiff (2010) and Newcastle (2012).

Revamp brings ‘much-needed’ Grade A office space to central Glasgow

Up to 22,000 sq. ft. of Grade A office space is now available in the heart of Glasgow’s central business district following completion of a comprehensive refurbishment.

The works to renovate the building at 241/3 West George Street were carried out by property developer City Site Jersey Ltd, which acquired the property in early 2016.

The entire building is available to let and the modern open plan floor plates can accommodate requirements ranging from 3,600 sq. ft. upwards.

City Site Jersey Ltd said it has put the needs of the modern occupier first when carrying out the redevelopment with a leased fibre line installed enabling swift data connectivity for tenants plus shower facilities and cycle racks have been provided in the basement.

GVA is acting as joint letting agents with Ryden.

Balfour Beatty marches on with Armed Forces Covenant commitment

Balfour Beatty has today re-signed the UK Armed Forces Covenant as part of its ongoing commitment to the Armed Forces community.

The Armed Forces Covenant provides a framework for businesses in the UK to ensure that veterans, reservists and their partners are treated fairly in the workplace and are fully integrated into the wider community.

Since first signing the Armed Forces Covenant in 2015, Balfour Beatty has taken significant strides to improve its practices, policies and commitments, resulting in the award of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) Employer Recognition Scheme Gold Award last year.

The new Covenant will be governed by Balfour Beatty’s Armed Forces Steering Group; a group comprised of a number of employees who are themselves veterans, reservists or partners or who have other significant links to the Armed Forces.

New early years campus at Kinnaird Primary

Kinnaird primary school in Larbert is growing thanks to a £3 million investment to create a brand new early years campus in the school grounds.

Construction work, being carried out by Clark Contracts, started in May and marks the first phase of a major expansion at the school to accommodate the school’s increasing roll.

The campus will deliver a new nursery/primary facility for up to 220 children, with 230m2 of nursery space for 3 and 4 year olds, 4 infant primary classrooms, a kitchen/dining area and outdoor play areas.

Following completion, the existing nursery will be converted into classrooms, providing further capacity at the school.

Recent increases in pupil numbers have been accommodated using temporary modular classrooms. The Early Years Campus is the first step in permanently extending capacity at the school to meet the increase in pupil numbers. Temporary modular classrooms will be removed as the extension progresses, which will increase available playground space.

The Early Years Campus has been designed in close consultation with the school and parent representatives.

The Early Years Campus forms part of the Council’s expansion of pre-school (nursery) provision on offer to all 3 and 4 year olds from 600 to 1140 hours per year by 2020.

Dundee lift company Caltech acquires rival

Independent Scottish lift company Caltech Lifts has announced the acquisition of Coupar Angus-based competitor Scotlifts Scotland for an undisclosed sum.

The cash deal means the Dundee firm will maintain more than 1,000 lifts across the UK.

Caltech was founded in 1978 by engineer Howard Renwick and is now run by his sons Andrew and Fraser.

Scotlifts Scotland owner Scott Murray will join the management team as Caltech’s new installations manager.

Scotlifts’ 50 contract clients, employee and company assets will also transfer to the Dundee firm.

Based at Stannergate Road, Caltech Limited supplies and maintains lifting equipment, including passenger lifts, goods lifts, disabled access lifts and stairlifts.

Its clients include the public and private sectors and covers local government, health, construction, oil/ energy, renewables and property sectors.

Consultation on next steps for West Princes Street Gardens and Ross Bandstand

Views are being sought from the public on the City of Edinburgh Council and Ross Development Trust’s proposals to enhance West Princes Street Gardens.

An online consultation has opened with the first drop-in session set to take place on Wednesday 18 July at the Assembly Rooms on George Street.

The ‘West Princes Street Gardens Project’ proposes to invest in facilities to provide a cherished space for both residents and visitors. It aims to enhance the experience of users while ensuring the gardens remain a beautiful and accessible asset under public ownership. To date, work has completed on the project’s restoration of the historic Ross Fountain and refurbishment of the Gardener’s Cottage, thanks to donations raised by the charitable Ross Development Trust.

The next phase in the project is consultation to gauge public support of the proposals, which will be fed back within a report to the council.

Over the course of the next 12 weeks, the public will specifically be asked to feedback on what the gardens mean to them, proposed upgrades to infrastructure and new ALEO to look after the area, which would allow the new Ross Bandstand to be run by an arms-length organisation.

Primary school pupils show their ‘metal’

The inspiration for the design of a unique and specially made metal sculpture which has been commissioned by Cruden Homes for installation at its Meadowside housing development currently under construction at Aberlady in East Lothian, has been provided by pupils of the local primary school.

Pupils through Nursery to P7 at Aberlady Primary School had been asked by Cruden Homes to create inspirational images for the design of a bespoke metal sculpture to be produced by the renowned ArtFe Blacksmiths at Ratho near Edinburgh.

The school selected the best entries from each of the classes which were then passed on for judging by a team from Cruden Homes including sales and marketing director, Hazel Davies.

Congratulations also go to Abigail from P4 and Ella from Nursery as very close runners up.

Lotte, Abigail and Ella all received book vouchers from Cruden Homes at a special prize presentation held recently at the school and Lotte’s winning idea will be submitted to ArtFe Blacksmiths for them to use as the inspiration for the final sculpture design.

Lotte and her parents will also be invited as a special guest of Cruden Homes, to the unveiling of the new sculpture which is likely to take place later next year.

Housing minister opens new Grampian Housing Association development in Aberdeen

Grampian Housing Association is celebrating the completion of three developments of new affordable homes, increasing its portfolio of properties for social rent throughout the North-east of Scotland.

The developments were completed in partnership with Scotia Homes which provides homes in village style communities. Eleven properties have been built at Dubford, Aberdeen while in Aberdeenshire 32 properties have been completed in Peterhead and 10 properties completed in Foveran.

To mark the occasion, Kevin Stewart MSP, minister for local government and housing, officially opened the Dubford development, a mix of 3 three bedroom houses and 8 one, two and three apartments for social rent. The minister met local residents who are directly benefiting from the additional affordable homes in the area and was shown around the new development itself.

Grampian Housing Association received over £828k of funding from the Scottish Government towards the cost of the £1.46 million development at Dubford.

The houses and apartments at Perwinnes Brae and Perwinnes Crescent are aimed at people seeking affordable housing in the Aberdeen housing market area.

The development is part of Aberdeen City Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Programme (SHIP) agreed with the Scottish Government. Dubford contributes to Aberdeen City Council’s aim to increase the supply of affordable housing to meet local housing need.

Grampian is committed to providing further affordable homes for rent with Scotia Homes in Cove, Aberdeen and Newburgh, Aberdeenshire.

Kevin Stewart MSP said: “Housing is a priority for this government which is why we have set an ambitious target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes during the lifetime of this Parliament with at least 35,000 of these being for social rent.

MSP welcomes ‘much needed’ Ayr social housing

A new social housing development in Ayr being delivered by Hanover Scotland Housing Association and CCG (Scotland) Ltd has been welcomed by the local MSP as he visited the construction site.

John Scott MSP visited Hanover’s new 22 home site at Britannia Place which is being delivered with funding from South Ayrshire Council and the Scottish Government.

The new development, which will be known as Cuthbert Gardens once completed to reflect the history of the site which used to contain the Newton Shoe Factory owned by the Cuthbert Family, is expected to open in the early part of 2019 will consist of 22 general needs social housing, ranging from 2 to 4 bedrooms.

Cuthbert Gardens will be Hanover Scotland’s tenth site in South Ayrshire, with the area amongst the organisations most important in the country. CCG has delivered a number of sites across Scotland, from Fife to Angus, delivering around 1000 homes a year across the country.

During his visit, Mr Scott met with senior managers from both Hanover Scotland and CCG and was given a tour of the site, including hearing of engagement which had been undertaken with local residents during the construction phases, how the design had come about and what was being done to ensure the health and safety of workers during construction.

New chief executive revealed at Midlothian Council

Councillors have approved the appointment of Dr Grace Vickers as Midlothian Council’s new chief executive.

Currently Midlothian Council’s head of education, Dr Vickers will take over from chief executive Kenneth Lawrie who is moving to the same role with Falkirk Council in August.

Dr Vickers joined the council in March 2015. She is a former secondary school head teacher and quality improvement manager with the City of Edinburgh Council.

Work starts on Paisley Housing Association bathroom upgrade

CCG Asset Management, the planned maintenance division for CCG (Scotland) Ltd, is to carry out kitchen and bathroom replacements in around 88 properties for Paisley Housing Association.

The contract was procured through the i-FLAIR Property Maintenance Framework, a 4-year agreement between housing associations in the areas of East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde and Renfrewshire.

CCG Asset Management has performed over 600 kitchen and bathroom installations throughout Scotland in the last year alone.