Building Briefs – March 5th

• Improving landslip mitigation measures at Rest and Be Thankful

A total of £1.9 million is being invested in the construction a further catch pit at phase one of the hillside.

£13.3m has already been invested catch pits and other measures along the A83, which have helped keep the road open for at least 48 days when it would otherwise have closed.

• Boroughmuir alumni invited to celebrate school’s new chapter

Former pupils who studied within one of Edinburgh’s most recognisable school buildings are being offered the chance of an exclusive first peek into its next chapter.

Ahead of the launch of its sales office and show apartment, CALA Homes (East) is inviting alumni to celebrate the past and future of the former Boroughmuir High School building.

The historic school building is being extensively restored by the locally-headquartered developer, which is creating 87 contemporary one to four bedroom apartments.

CALA is now hoping to host alumni from throughout the generations at a special show apartment preview evening on Friday 03 April, ahead of the public opening of its on-site presence the following Monday.

For the opportunity to attend, former pupils should write up to 150 words, explaining what the building means to them and their families, emailing alumni@cala.co.uk by Friday 20 March.

The Grade B listed building served as the home of Boroughmuir High School from 1913 until February 2018.

• Isle of Arran resort postpones hotel refurbishment due to decline in EU job applicants

The Auchrannie Resort on the Isle of Arran has delayed the refurbishment of its main hotel in order to invest £1 million in additional staff accommodation, as Brexit has led to a decline in staff applicants from the European Union (EU).

Around a third of the staff at the resort are EU nationals from outside of the UK, though the ratio has fallen from 33% in February last year to 29% last month.

The hotel has seen the number of job applications from those outside the UK plummet by around 75% since the Brexit referendum, from around 200 per year to just 50.

Linda Johnston, co-founder and managing director of Auchrannie, said most of the EU nationals now joining the resort are moving from other jobs within the UK.

Due to a rise in employment competition, particularly in places like Arran, where there is a shortage of affordable homes for locals, resort management believed that it should supplement the area’s housing stock for its employees.

Due to be completed in June this year, the three new staff accommodation units will increase the number of rooms for employees to 102. The Auchrannie resort currently has approximately 180 members of staff.

Around a quarter of the £1m investment is being offset by the sale of older accommodation within the resort to a private buyer, The Herald reports.

• Over 100 attend 5th annual careers evening at Clark Contracts

Over 100 people interested in a traineeship or apprenticeship in the construction industry attended a careers evening held by Clark Contracts at its head office in Paisley.

The event, which was held during Scottish Apprenticeship Week, took place on Tuesday 3rd March and attracted over 100 attendees who had the opportunity to meet the company’s recruitment team and current employees to find out more about careers at Clark Contracts. Representatives from the Construction Industry Training Board, West College Scotland, City of Glasgow College and Invest in Renfrewshire also attended to speak to guests.

A member of Clark Contracts’ recruitment team delivered presentations throughout the evening on the company’s apprenticeship opportunities, demonstrating numerous examples of staff members who started as apprentices and have progressed into other management roles within the company.

Also on hand to talk to attendees were a variety of Clark Contracts’ staff, including quantity surveyors, contracts managers, estimators and apprentices who have progressed through the academy themselves.

In 2019, Clark Contracts invested £750k in training and development and their commitment was recognised with the main contractor being crowned the ‘Best Place to Work’ at the UK wide Construction News Talent Awards 2019. This award follows on from their 2018 Sunday Times Best Companies to Work for Listing and the 2017 Construction News Talent Award for Training Excellence.

In addition, Clark Contracts attended the Young Persons Jobs Roadshow on Wednesday 4th March at the Corn Exchange in Edinburgh. This event was organised by Developing the Young Workforce Edinburgh, Midlothian and East Lothian as part of Scottish Apprenticeship Week.

• Cineworld granted planning permission for Aberdeen’s first IMAX screen

Aberdeen film-goers will be able to experience movies in a new way as an IMAX screen is to be installed in the city.

Cineworld has been granted planning permission for an extension to its site at the beach.

The movie chain will be adding a 409-seat IMAX auditorium to its Queen’s Links Leisure Park site.

In addition, there will be a new coffee shop and an extra auditorium and screen added to allow even more film-goers to enjoy themselves.

The IMAX screen will be the first to be installed in the north-east and offers an immersive experience to movie fans.

• Hawick bus interchange improvements to begin

A series of improvements to the Hawick bus interchange are due to get under way next week.

The £150,000 phase one works at Mart Street begin on Monday 9 March and are due to last four to five weeks.

Supported by Transport Scotland’s Public Transport Provision funding, phase one will see works take place including refurbishing and relocating two of the existing bus shelters to Mart Street’s bus stop island; existing bus stop island being widened and extended; island being repaved, with new street furniture, lighting and trees added and removal of one entry to the Mart Street Car Park to allow extension of bus stop island to link to existing pavement.

Discussions are ongoing regarding a phase two of the improvement programme.

• Property leader calls on industry to embrace future challenges

Speaking yesterday at the Scottish Property Federation (SPF) conference in Edinburgh, SPF chair Robin Blacklock challenged the property industry to deliver financial, social and environmental sustainability for Scotland.

Cabinet secretary for finance, Kate Forbes MSP, also addressed the conference, echoing calls for a break in ‘business as usual’ to find innovative solutions to service Scotland’s communities.

The conference looked to other sectors as examples of how to successfully incorporate sustainable business practices with addresses from ScottishPower CEO Keith Anderson and CEO Michelin Scotland Innovation Parc John Reid.

SPF chair Robin Blacklock said: “The property industry in Scotland has a great opportunity to shape the future direction of the country by embedding sustainability in its business practices.

“If we are to tackle the challenge of inclusive economic growth as we move towards a carbon neutral economy, we must do things differently.

“We can learn from other industries that have taken those bold steps towards carbon reduction, and from those who’ve set social inclusion at the heart of their businesses.

“By imbedding social and environmental responsibility into our day-to-day business considerations we have a fantastic opportunity to influence our future for the better.

“We must strive to inform political and community leaders about how long-term, sustainable investment is key to meeting their objectives.

“With a collaborative approach, we can start to solve this critical challenge.”

• Thomas & Adamson gives youngsters chance to learn from construction industry experts

Global construction and property consultancy Thomas & Adamson is supporting Scottish Apprenticeship Week by showcasing the huge variety of opportunities available to individuals interested in pursuing a career within the construction and property industry.

Over the years, the company has benefited greatly from the amount of enthusiastic talent joining the industry from leading schools and universities, taking on more than 50 apprentices.

By hosting the apprenticeship programme, Thomas & Adamson offers apprentices guidance through their chosen university course by appointing them a dedicated mentor. This allows the trainee to gain insight into both the industry and the business through exposure to the full range of professional services offered by Thomas & Adamson, including quantity surveying and project management. This experience can aid the trainee in determining what direction they would like their career to take upon completion of their apprenticeship.

One such apprentice, Derek Banks, 28, from Edinburgh, joined the company in 2010 as a Finance Assistant, before moving to Construction Safety Services in 2012. Last year, Derek started his apprenticeship as an assistant project manager and commenced a Construction in the Built Environment graduate apprentice course at Heriot-Watt University. Upon completing his apprenticeship, Derek will become a qualified project manager.

• Caerlee Mill team bring World of Work Week to life

The team from Caerlee Mill were special guests at St Ronan’s Primary School in Innerleithen recently where they took part in a World of Work Week and challenged the Primary 7-year group from St Ronan’s and Walkerburn Schools’ Partnership to design and produce a model layout of a sustainable housing development and bid to buy land.

As part of the project, the children were reminded of the importance of their STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and how important that each one is in creating sustainable developments.

As well as learning more about the thought processes behind Whiteburn’s local development at Caerlee Mill, Whiteburn’s Roger Bainbridge introduced some of the professional and management careers in construction, plus under his guidance each team had to act as a development company and create and present their development ideas which allowed them to focus on teamwork, time management, finance and their presentation skills.

The redevelopment of the grounds of the former Caerlee Mill in Innerleithen has already reached a key milestone, with confirmation that over 80% of its first phase of new build homes and flats have been reserved.

• DGHP appoints Matt Foreman as new managing director

Dumfries and Galloway Housing Partnership (DGHP) has appointed Matt Foreman as its new managing director.

During his career in housing, spanning 24 years, Mr Foreman has worked in several leadership roles before taking up the new role at DGHP just months after it first joined Wheatley Group.

Mr Foreman first worked with Gateshead Council in a number of housing-related roles over a period of ten years, before moving on to work for its ALMO, the Gateshead Housing Company.

He then moved to South Tyneside Council where he held several senior leadership roles, and he was involved in the setting up of its ALMO, South Tyneside Homes. Mr Foreman then moved on to North Tyneside Homes, North Star Housing Group, Durham Housing Group and, more recently worked as customer service director with Your Homes Newcastle.

He has also spent some time on the board at Derwentside Homes and has been a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) for almost 20 years.

• ‘No cuts’ budget approved by West Dunbartonshire Council

West Dunbartonshire Council has approved a budget without any cuts for the second year running.

As part of the 2020/21 council budget, every primary school pupil in West Dunbartonshire will be offered free school meals. The major expansion, which will save local families hundreds of pounds per year, will be phased in at schools across the area over the next two years. The £950,000 investment in 2020/21 will be partially funded by a rise in Council Tax of 4.84%.

The budget will also see £8 million invested in road and pavement improvements, £1.85m to support residents into employment and over £250,000 set aside to fund additional learning assistants in schools.

The commitments follow the budget survey in autumn 2019 which showed that education and roads were among residents’ top priorities for council spending.

The financial plan protects frontline council services as much as possible, and commits additional funding to support initiatives assisting some of the poorest and most vulnerable residents in West Dunbartonshire.

In addition, over £70m will be invested in the Health and Social Care Partnership to protect and enhance Home Care and Social Work.

The Independent Resource Centre will receive £249,000, including a £144,000 contingency fund to maintain its service over the next two years; £50,000 will go to community drug project Alternatives to support the Safe as Houses initiative and £60,000 has been set aside for the Challenging and Responding to Abuse (CARA) project to support those affected by abuse. 

A new £382,000 NetZero Carbon Fund has been created to fund initiatives that will improve the environment in West Dunbartonshire by generating clean energy or reducing energy consumption/CO2 emissions. In addition, a new Biodiversity post will be introduced for the area to enhance the environment in West Dunbartonshire.

• Buccleuch Estate agrees historic Newcastleton land transfer

One of the largest landowners in Scotland has agreed a historic transfer of land to a community trust in the Borders.

The land, which has been gifted by Buccleuch’s Borders Estate to Newcastleton & District Community Trust encompasses a range of amenity sites in the village.

The land involved includes Polysport – a multisport pitch and fitness gym – a golf course and The Holm show fields.

These sites have already been under long-term use by the community, formal transfer of ownership allows the Trust to find increased community uses for the land and look at potential improvements of the facilities. In addition, a mast site has been included to provide the community with an income. Buccleuch said it was delighted to enable the community’s plans to utilise the land.

The agreement comes as Buccleuch continues negotiations for the sale of substantial areas of land to community groups, including Langholm Moor. Newcastleton & District Community Trust is continuing to progress plans for a prospective purchase of land in the south of Scotland, with their application being submitted to the Scottish Land Fund and a decision due in May.