Building Briefs - April 28th

• Bell Group commits to 500 new apprenticeships

Bell has a proud history of developing apprentices with chairman George Bell awarded an OBE for his services to apprentices in 2019.

This announcement follows last year’s award of an SDS Apprenticeship Funding contract to deliver apprenticeships in-house, and the board’s commitment earlier this year to replicate their Scottish SQA approved Training Centre in four further locations in England and Wales.

The Edinburgh Boiler Company is celebrating after being named as winner of the Outstanding Customer Service Initiative category at the 2021 Global Business Excellence Awards.

The firm is the capital’s largest boiler installers and beat off stiff competition from around the UK to land the prestigious award, winning recognition for its innovative approach to customer service.

“It’s a real honour to win this award,” said managing director Mark Glasgow, who established the company in 2015.

“As a business we pride ourselves on our customer service, integrity and quality of our work, particularly during what has been such an unsettling and worrying year for everybody.

“When we started out, our focus was on delivering a really good local service and nothing has changed since then.

“I was determined to make the customer experience as enjoyable and stress-free as possible and we have worked hard to earn a reputation that sets us apart from our rivals. That is backed up by 1000 reviews on Trustpilot with more than 90% ‘excellent’ ratings to date.

“It’s great to see that hard work recognised in this way and it really says a lot about who we are as a company. I couldn’t be more pleased for everybody.”

• Repairs and improvements continue at Banff Harbour

Progress continues to be made on critical improvements to the Banff Railway Jetty and East Pier.

Aberdeenshire Council is investing £1.3 million in the construction works which are being project managed by Turner & Townsend.

Lochshell Ltd is the appointed contractor for the works which will see the reinstatement of the jetty after a partial collapse in June 2017 and strengthening to the East Pier.

The project has been welcomed locally by harbour users, the wider community and visitors to the area, with Banff Harbour playing a key role in providing facilities for many pleasure craft, hobby fishermen and commercial interests.

A virtual public update information meeting is scheduled for May 10 at 6pm during which the project manager will give a presentation on progress.

• Shawlands set for more Spaces for People

Work starts tomorrow to make some temporary road layout changes outside, and close to Shawlands Academy in Glasgow to create additional space for physical distancing as COVID-19 restrictions remain.

Existing white hatching, painted onto the carriageway around Dimont Road, will be refreshed and extended to discourage parking and improve visibility for drivers and pedestrians.

Glasgow City Council will also be adding temporary barriers onto Moss-side Road at the entrance to Shawlands Academy around the zig-zag markings. This will prevent vehicles parking next to this busy area of the footway and so free up additional space for walking and wheeling.

This latest project is part of the Spaces for People programme which has seen a wide variety of temporary measures implemented across the city during the pandemic to provide extra space for walking, wheeling and cycling. 

Work should be completed by April 30, with the road layout changes set to be in place for a minimum period of 10 weeks.

• Gannochy Trust Lifetime Neighbourhood shortlisted for three housing development awards

A new intergenerational neighbourhood in Perth designed by Glasgow architecture firm Anderson Bell + Christie for the Gannochy Trust, has been shortlisted for three awards at the Inside Housing Development Awards 2021.

The development is up for best affordable housing development (less than £10m), best healthy homes development (rural and suburban) and best older people’s housing development (rural and suburban).

The 48 new homes integrate seamlessly with the original housing estate built by Gannochy Trust founder and former Scotch whisky entrepreneur and philanthropist, Arthur Kinmond (A K) Bell in the 1920s. Not only is the new neighbourhood well integrated in terms of building proportions, scale and layout, but careful consideration of the existing tenant community means the new housing will accommodate their future needs as they age, and will also attract younger families and accommodate carers to create an inclusive and resilient community.

The new development is underpinned by three core design principles; ‘Healthy Homes for Life,’ ‘Lifetime Neighbourhoods’ and ‘High Quality Design’ which aim to improve health, accessibility and connectedness for tenants, with the flexibility to adapt to their needs as circumstances change.

The Gannochy Trust Lifetime Neighbourhood was built by Campion Homes.

‘Healthy Homes for Life,’ and ‘High Quality Design’ elements also received design input from the Mackintosh Environmental Architecture Research Unit at Glasgow School of Art with support from the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre.

The awards take place at the Intercontinental Hotel in London, on November 4.