Building Briefs – November 7th

• East Ayrshire Council honours former provost at new housing development

The name of the development was unveiled at an official opening ceremony performed by Kevin Stewart MSP, minister for local government, housing and planning.

Andrew Nisbet lived in Hurlford and served as provost of Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council from 1980 to 1984 and Hurlford and Crookedholm Community Council put forward the suggestion to name the development after him.

Andrew Nisbet Place provides 13 assisted living homes, along with a care provider’s base, and is located adjacent to the existing Hurlford community centre. The homes are designed to support people with a range of disabilities to live independently and safely in their own homes with the support of an on-site care provider, The Richmond Fellowship Scotland.

The homes are bright, energy-efficient and have specially designed features installed including wet rooms and rise and fall kitchen worktops in the wheelchair accessible ground floor flats.

The build benefits from being Housing for Varying Needs and Secure by Design compliant, as well as meeting the Silver Standard. It has a lift, power-assisted doors and a visible, welcoming entry. All of the flats can be accessed from an internal street that has been designed to face onto the residents’ private, enclosed garden.

The development was built by Glasgow-based contractor and manufacturer CCG (Scotland) Ltd as part of an ambitious partnership that will see over 400 affordable homes constructed across East Ayrshire over the next three years.

• Clear Business takes speculative Clyde Gateway office building to 100% occupation

Clyde Gateway has announced that Scotland’s second largest water supplier Clear Business will become the second tenant of its speculative office development, One Rutherglen Links.

This brings the building to full occupation and represents the largest letting outwith the city centre this year.

Clear Business, part of the Verastar Group, entered the Scottish water market as a licensed provider of water and waste services in 2013 and has rapidly gained market share, now servicing over one in four companies. It also provides business energy and telecoms services.

Clear Business will occupy the ground and first floors of the building and bring 130 employees to the local Clyde Gateway area.

• Anniversary gift for BAM staff

BAM Construction has partnered with social enterprise company Haven to create anniversary boot bags for staff.

Based in Clydebank, Haven provides rehabilitation, training and employment for disabled and socially excluded people throughout Scotland.

BAM spent six months working with the company to design and manufacture the bags which feature a commemorative logo to celebrate BAM’s 150th anniversary.

Patricia Murphy, regional buyer & supply chain manager, BAM Construction, said: “Haven is a remarkable company and we are delighted that we were able to collaborate and produce this practical gift which will be well used by site staff throughout Scotland.”

• Consultation opens on Circular Economy Bill

A six-week consultation on proposed legislation in the Circular Economy Bill has been launched today.

It includes measures to cut litter and waste and forms part of wider plans for a new approach to reducing, reusing and recycling materials to help drive Scotland’s circular economy.

• Hostel plan approved for vacant Dolphin Hotel in Dunbar

East Lothian Council’s planning committee members have approved an application that will see solar panels installed within Dunbar’s conservation area.

The decision was taken at a planning committee meeting during which members considered proposals to convert the vacant Dolphin Hotel in Dunbar’s Queen’s Street into a hostel providing tourist accommodation.

As part of the plan, the applicant had requested approval for photovoltaic panels to be added to the south-east elevation of the building facing the street. Although not listed, the Dolphin Hotel, which dates from the 19th Century, is within the town’s Conservation Area.

Officers felt that the proposal was not in line with this status and had recommended approval of the facility without the panels. However, the committee discussed the need to integrate sustainable energy solutions in communities as part of the council’s recent declaration of a climate emergency.

A condition was attached to the approval of the application that the final panels should be as flush to the roof surface as possible and detailed drawings should be presented ahead of installation for approval. The application was unanimously approved with this condition in place.

• Kirkcaldy unveils road improvement works

Fife Council has announced a £75,000 investment in road improvement works in Kirkcaldy.

Carriageway resurfacing on A921 Kinghorn Road, Kirkcaldy will start on Monday 11 November and run until Friday 22 November 2019.

The works will be carried out in phases from the Peebles Street junction to Esplanade/Invertiel traffic signals.

• Ministers approve revised Gordonbush wind farm extension

SSE Renewables has welcomed a decision by Scottish Ministers to revise the planning consent for an 11-turbine extension to Gordonbush onshore wind farm.

Located around 12km north west of Brora in Sutherland, the existing 70MW, 35-turbine Gordonbush Wind Farm has been generating clean, renewable energy since 2012 as part of SSE Renewables portfolio of nearly 2GW of operational onshore wind farms across the UK and Ireland.

Consent had previously been granted in 2017 for a 15-turbine extension beside the existing Gordonbush site. However, this revised consent will see turbine numbers reduced from 15 to 11 whilst increasing the height of the turbines by less than 20m to 149.9m.

The reduction in turbine numbers reflects the rapid development of wind turbine technology and will allow SSE Renewables to take advantage of much more powerful turbines to maximise the energy generation potential and efficiency of the site.

SSE Renewables will now consider the options for a route to market for the project – including the viability of building the project subsidy-free – ahead of taking a final investment decision.

Should the project reach a positive final investment decision, SSE Renewables will engage with the Highlands and Islands Open4Business platform and host Meet the Buyer events for the local and Scottish supply chain to maximise the opportunities available for local businesses to work on the extension.