Building Briefs – April 26th

• New Lidl warehouse to be fully operational by November 

Guests including Neil Gray, MP for Airdrie and Shotts, Graham Simpson, MSP for Central Scotland Region, Des Murray, CEO of North Lanarkshire Council and Jim Logue, lead of North Lanarkshire Council had a chance to see the £70 million warehouse taking shape with the full framework of the building now erected.

They were given a tour of the site by regional director Ross Millar, and head of property Gordon Rafferty, as well as other members of Lidl’s senior management team in Scotland.

The 58,500 sqm warehouse is Lidl’s largest in Great Britain to date and will support the discounter’s Scottish store estate – currently at 97 sites but set to reach 100 by the start of next year. It will also be the base for 600 employees working in roles ranging from operations and logistics to customer service, with capacity to increase the workforce further in the future.

• Marley Alutec expands presence in Scotland

Aluminium rainwater, fascia, soffit and coping solutions manufacturer Marley Alutec has secured a new Scottish stockist and federation membership to strengthen its support of the region’s installers and roofing contractors.

Marley Alutec products will now be stocked by John Cameron (Plumbers and Builders Merchants) Ltd, a well-recognised independent merchant business in Glasgow.

Already an associate member of the Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), Alutec has also recently become an associate member of the Scottish and Northern Ireland Plumbing Employers’ Federation (SNIPEF). Alutec will be involved in many of SNIPEF’s regular events, either through sponsorship or attendance, to promote its product offering and liaise with local installers.

• Novus appointed to £500,000 East Lothian Council framework

Novus Property Solutions has been appointed to a £500,000 framework for East Lothian Council which will see the contractor complete medical adaptions work in homes for vulnerable residents.

The five-year agreement includes modifying bathrooms with works covering minor replacements as well as full strip outs and refurbishments to create wet rooms.

The programme is designed to update approximately 300 homes every year in the council’s housing portfolio, including some sheltered accommodation stock.

Novus will enter competitive tender to win projects under the framework, which will then be delivered by its Bathgate office. The contractor, which also has offices in Glasgow, Dundee and Dumfries, completed work in over 10,000 properties across Scotland last year. Its other major contracts in Scotland include refurbishment and maintenance projects with Caledonia Housing Association and Home Group.

• Investment in historic Inverness pub gets go ahead

A £1.36 million refurbishment of the historic Blackfriars pub on Academy Street got the go ahead this week thanks to the announcement of a £422,606 grant award by The Inverness Townscape Heritage Project and a £689,200 investment by the building’s owners, Heineken’s Star Pubs & Bars division.

Experienced Glasgow and Edinburgh hospitality operator, Billy McAneney, is taking the helm as the pub’s new operator and investing a further £250,000 in the site.

The announcement paves the way for Blackfriars to reopen after an 18 month closure, further contributing to the revitalisation of the Academy Street area.

The ground floor will be transformed into a great quality traditional pub specialising in locally sourced food. The two upper storeys are to be converted into eight en suite letting rooms to provide much needed accommodation for visitors to Inverness. The pub will be renamed The Optimist to mark its change of direction.

The project will sympathetically restore the Grade B 18th century building. Outside work will include removing the render to reveal the old stonework, renovating the windows and chimneys and replacing the roof. The refurbishment will install a new kitchen and toilets and give the interior a smart new look, whilst retaining its original features and character.

Work starts at the end of April and it is hoped The Optimist will open its doors by the end of November. Twenty new jobs will be created.

• Official opening for Cadder Housing Association’s first new build development

Cadder Housing Association’s mission to improve the quality of life and living conditions of local people has been boosted by the completion of its first new build housing development.

The new homes were delivered on the site of the former St. Agnes Primary School at Tresta Road in Cadder, Glasgow.

City treasurer Councillor Allan Gow formally opened the development and commented on the high quality development which complements the improvement in tenants’ home and on-going regeneration of Cadder.

The Association’s contractor for the development McTaggart Construction has built 50 high quality new properties of varying types and sizes that will provide new homes and meet the housing needs of applicants on the Association’s housing list.

The development has been funded through a partnership between Glasgow City Council and Cadder Housing Association and contributes towards the Scottish Government’s goal to deliver 50,000 new homes by 2021.

The total cost of the development is £5.9 million with the city council providing £3.7m in housing association grant to complement the Association’s funding of £2.3m, which was achieved through new borrowing from the Bank of Scotland.

• Weslo completes facelift at former art college

Housing minister Kevin Stewart MSP has officially reopened the former Science and Art School at Park Street in Falkirk after Weslo Housing Management concluded a 20-week redevelopment programme.

The building, known as Silk House, was acquired for mid-market rent by Weslo in March 2018 in a deal worth over £1 million and backed by grant support from the Scottish Government.

The tenanted properties within the development were in need of extensive upgrading at the time of acquisition. Sitting tenants had complained of damp, mould, insufficient heating and generally very poor living conditions.

The development, which occupies a prime position in Falkirk’s town centre, has undergone a major facelift over the last six months with tenants benefitting from new kitchens, bathrooms, décor, floor coverings and white goods.

The new Quantum heating systems installed as part of the refurbishment are energy efficient and are expected to reduce heating costs for residents by up to 40% and, in turn reduce the overall carbon footprint of the building. In addition, residents can now enjoy and benefit from welcoming communal areas, grounds and increased car parking as a result of the overall re-development.

The building will be managed by Weslo Property Management, the private sector subsidiary of Weslo.

• Shetland Islands Council approves home building loan

Shetland Islands Council has approved a £300,000 loan to BA Builders (Shetland) Ltd to allow the building firm to construct more homes.

The loan will help to build up to 13 modern and energy-efficient homes in rural areas, which supports the council’s strategic objectives to encourage people to live and work in Shetland.

The move is considered a pilot project since the council has not provided loans to local businesses for housebuilding before.

Brian Anderson, owner of BA Builders, said that the company has changed its business model to prioritise new builds, rather than concentrating mostly on smaller scale projects, such as extensions and renovations.

The council maintains a £15m Shetland Investment Fund and can provide commercial finance to new and growing local businesses to stimulate economic growth and employment. This fund aims to ensure that good, commercially viable proposals do not fail from a lack of access to finance.

• Highland Council to apply for funding to take Accessing Inverness project forward

At a special meeting of Highland Council’s city of Inverness area committee, members have given the green light for officers to apply to Sustrans Scotland for 100% of funding to take forward the Accessing Inverness project.

The scope of Accessing Inverness is to improve the walking and cycling environment between the rail station, bus station and Rose Street Car Park but connections with the wider network will be considered during the next design phase should the funding application be successful.

During yesterday’s meeting feedback from the public consultation and stakeholder sessions that took place from October 2018 to February 2019 were highlighted in a document entitled “You said – We did”. This laid out the actions to be taken following points raised.

 Officers stressed that the designs produced to date are not an indication of the final design and the funding applied for will allow for further work with stakeholders and more detailed proposals to emerge.

Options being looked at include widening pavements, reducing traffic speeds and introducing streetscape features to enhance the look and feel of the city centre. Following feedback from the consultation, the team behind the project have given a clear commitment to ensure road crossing are safe for all users. The point was also stressed that concept designs done to date are not the final designs and the funding applied for will allow for further detailed work to be carried out following further engagement.

Members, who all agreed that Academy Street is in need of investment,  were pleased with an announcement made by the director of planning and development that in the short term £75,000 of funding from developer contributions has been identified to address the worse parts of the road surfaces on Academy Street and these works will start as soon as possible.

A commitment was given that a specific Stakeholder Group will be established to look in detail at the Equality Impact Assessment for the scheme.

The deadline for funding applications to Sustrans Scotland is Wednesday 1 May 2019.