Building Briefs - April 30th

• CALA video shows vision for new homes at Jackton

A new video has brought to life the first look at Sequoia Meadows at Jackton, as well as unveiling exclusive street-scene CGIs, offering a taste of what’s to come as work progresses on the East Kilbride development.

The first look takes CALA Homes (West) one step closer to the official launch of Sequoia Meadows this summer and shines a spotlight on the semi-rural location – with plenty of space and scope for outdoor activities – as well as its proximity to nearby Eaglesham and East Kilbride.

It also showcases the amenities set to come to the development, which will offer a contemporary range of one- and two-bedroom apartments, three-bed terraced and four- and five-bedroom detached homes – giving first-time buyers and new families room to grow, and established families the chance to find their forever home.

And, as part of CALA’s acclaimed Light and Space collection, each home within the development will boast high specification finishes in line with the award-winning homebuilder’s exacting specifications. All homes and apartment buildings will also be fitted with solar panels to help buyers run their homes more sustainably, and cost-effectively.

The wider development will also feature a new purpose-built primary school as well as a selection of retail units, adding to the outstanding amenities already close at hand.

• Next step for new Peterhead Community Campus

The business case for the state-of-the-art Peterhead Community Campus has been agreed by Aberdeenshire Council.

A replacement for the current Peterhead Academy building with the Community Campus is a priority in the council’s capital plan.

Now the business case is approved, officers can work up and agree funding arrangements, whilst planning for the construction of the new community complex, which is due to be complete in 2025. 

Residents, parents and carers have had their say in two statutory consultations. One on the proposed merger of Dales Park and Meethill schools and the other concerning the relocation of Anna Ritchie Special School on to the Community Campus site. The findings from both consultations will be considered by members of the Buchan Area Committee and the Education and Children’s Services Committee later this year.

Next up, members of the Buchan Area Committee will need to agree the project delivery and investment before construction of the Community Campus can commence.

Depending on the outcomes of the consultations, the Community Campus could comprise of a new academy offering 1,400 secondary school places, a new primary school with 600 places and the possible relocation of Anna Ritchie Special School with 70 ASN places. The campus may include a hydrotherapy and warm water swimming pool.  It is anticipated there will be sport, leisure and cultural facilities constructed including a new swimming pool near Peterhead town centre.

• Repair work begins at Hamilton Mausoleum

Work is underway to repair the roof of one of South Lanarkshire’s most significant cultural landmarks.

• May bank holiday railway engineering works unveiled

Network Rail engineers will be carrying out upgrades works over the bank holiday weekend.

While most of Scotland’s railway will be unaffected, some areas will see significant changes – particularly on the West Coast Mainline connecting Glasgow to London.

From Saturday May 1 until the early hours of Tuesday May 4, engineers will be working to install new track, upgrade signalling systems and replace bridges at a range of locations between Carstairs and the Border.

Further south, tracks are being upgraded between Preston and Lancaster, Oxenholme and Penrith and between Crewe and Chester. Work will also be taking place around Euston station in London to prepare for the new High Speed 2 line.

In Glasgow, track renewals work will be taking place to the south of the city affecting services between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh over the holiday weekend.

In Stirling, work to upgrade Cornton level crossing will mean changes to services on the Highland mainline.

• Informal consultation on proposed Galashiels Community Campus closes to public

The informal consultation phase for the proposed Galashiels Community Campus, outlining the various proposals for the replacement of the existing Galashiels Academy, has now closed to the public.

The consultation, which started on March 18, asked for feedback from members of the local community on the five possible options to replace the existing school. This included Scottish Borders Council’s preferred option to build a 1,000+ pupil school largely within the existing school boundary and a portion of the town’s Scott Park.

The options were detailed in full on a virtual consultation platform because of the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic and can still be viewed via www.scotborders.gov.uk/galacampus.

It includes various videos outlining the vision for the proposed campus, with animated fly-throughs of what the facility may look like and interviews with pupils and members of the community. A comprehensive list of FAQs can also be found, detailing answers to the key questions received from the public during the consultation.

Over the course of the consultation, the website recorded over 1,450 visits, with visitors spending an accumulative total of 27 days, 11 hours and 15 minutes on the site at an average of 25 minutes per visit.

The feedback received from this phase of the consultation will form the basis of a report to the council recommending the next steps for the project.

This will be followed by a Proposal of Application Notice (PAN), which will take place during summer 2021, followed by a full planning application.

A statutory education consultation, focused on the educational benefits of a new school rather than the site or building itself, will also begin shortly with the aim of gathering feedback from the school community.

• Black Isle, Dingwall & Seaforth prioritised roads maintenance programme approved for 21/22

The roads structural maintenance programme for Black Isle, Dingwall and Seaforth will see over £500,000 of investment on the area’s roads and will be split between the Revenue and Capital budget.

The 2021/22 programme, which was agreed by members of the Black Isle, Dingwall and Seaforth Area Committee earlier this week will focus on priority routes and scheme which had to be deferred from the previous year.

Safety inspections and input and feedback from Ward members were also used to prepare the programme.

The programme will see a £314,941,20 investment in overlay/inlay and £194,644,80 will be used for surface dressing.

Station Road in Dingwall was identified as a top priority by members at this week’s meeting with that section of the A862 seeing 560m of surface dressing.

Riverford Crescent will also get 1,457m of surface dressing and Riverford Drive approximately 230m of dressing.

In terms of the resurfacing programme 70m of the U2711 Bogallan – Allanglach Road will be raised at the junction with the B9161 Munlochy to A9 road and resurfaced. Resurfacing will also take place on 240m of the U2975 Corry Road – Ardnagrask – Aultvaich road.

Members also agreed that any additional roads funding would be used to refurbish the road at the Distillery Bends in Dingwall. This is an area all Members agreed would require considerable focus.