Building Briefs – April 27th

• TECA celebrates RICS Social Impact award win

Comprising the P&J Live arena and two on-site hotels, the £333 million events campus officially opened its doors to the public in September 2019 following a three-year build.

Robertson served as main contractor on the project, which was a joint venture between Aberdeen City Council and HBD, formerly Henry Boot Developments.

And now, the Royal Institution for Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has selected it as winner in the Commercial category at its inaugural Social Impact Awards for Scotland.

The awards celebrate projects which deliver economic, social or environmental improvements in communities. Judges said that that TECA “demonstrated very good collaboration with a range of stakeholders and was delivered on time and on budget”.

All eight category winners were announced digitally by RICS and will now be put forward to the UK-wide Grand Final which is due to take place on 24 September in London

The project, which is Robertson’s largest ever, has won several awards. In February, TECA scooped two titles at the Scottish Property Awards, including the prestigious Development of the Year.

The venue has been hailed as an example of best practice within the UK construction industry and is playing an integral role in enhancing Aberdeen’s reputation for innovation.

• Plant supplier HIAB to resume installation work in Cumbernauld

Custom lifting gear firm’s operations to begin under extra health & safety rules

Installation operations are to resume at the Cumbernauld depot of heavy goods lift supplier Hiab from today.

Hiab UK had suspended installation work of products such as loader cranes, truck mounted forklifts and tail lifts at its four sites across Britain as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak.

The company said staff in Cumbernauld, Dudley, Ellesmere and Northallerton will begin carrying out installation jobs under revised health and safety protocols.

The firm’s service centres had continued to operate as normal along with service vans and field service engineers.

• 99-year-old Fife woman praises water ‘heroes’

A 99-year-old woman has told how she will never take her water for granted again – after two Scottish Water employees went the extra mile to help her out.

Calum Keeley

Margaret Hutcheson told how she had “only a trickle” of water coming from the taps in her Dunfermline home.

Knowing the current advice about hand washing often as one of the best measures to protect yourself against coronavirus she said she “was beyond worried”.

Her carer Donna Johnston contacted Scottish Water about the issue and within 24 hours two Water Network Service Operators (NSOs), Kenny Grant and Calum Keeley, visited Margaret’s home.

They knew a another utility had been working in the area earlier in April and this had resulted in a burst on the drinking water network which had since been repaired

Given current lockdown conditions Scottish Water staff are only entering customers’ properties in an emergency. Given Margaret’s age and as she was self-isolating and in need of water for washing and drinking the pair were sent to investigate. Both Kenny and Calum had to wear upgraded PPE (personal protective equipment) which includes disposable overalls, gloves, masks and protective glasses.

Within minutes they found what was causing the issue and spent three hours carrying out repairs – which included Calum nipping back to his home in Inverkeithing to get extra parts from his garage.

The pair cleaned out the heater tank and cold water tank in Margaret’s home, which had become clogged with grit filled after the previous burst. They also replaced a ballcock in her water tank – floats which rise when water levels rise and once at a pre-set level it forces the lever to close the valve and shut off the water flow.

Kenny and Calum – who has worked at Scottish Water for three years - both work as part of the Water Network team in Tay which covers Angus, Fife and Perth.