Building Briefs – April 6th

The steel frame for the £37m Cumbernauld Academy and Cumbernauld Theatre campus being built by Morrison Construction has been completed outlining the size of the facility.

While the site was affected by unique weather at the beginning of Spring, including a visit from the ‘Beast from the East’, the cold snap could not delay the project team finishing the steel frame.

The construction of the project is being undertaken with development partner hub South West with North Lanarkshire Council.

Works began at the site in July 2017, which is also home to the current Cumbernauld Academy, and have progressed well with phase 1 of the new school car park finished, the foundations and structural steelwork complete.

Once complete the new campus will have capacity for 1250 secondary pupils and a 300-seat replacement venue for the current Cumbernauld Theatre.

When construction work is finalised the current buildings at the school will be demolished to make way for new external sports facilities.

Cumbernauld Academy, formed following the merger of Cumbernauld and Abronhill high schools in 2014, is home to around 980 pupils.

RFM Group to deliver Edinburgh student halls refurb

RFM Group has been appointed to deliver a student accommodation refurbishment project in Edinburgh.

The £500,000 scheme at Arran House will see the create of six new en-suite bedrooms with a communal kitchen, as well as new social space for use by the full seven-storey apartment building in the student area near to the University of Edinburgh.

The scope of works includes; alterations to the current floor plan, partitioning, plastering, ceilings, mechanical & electrical works, bathroom pod and kitchen installation, full decoration throughout as well as furniture installation.

Leeds-based RFM will form part of a project team featuring employer’s agent Broadfield Project Management, architects Fletcher Joseph, engineers Etive Consulting, building service engineers Calford Seadon and principle designer Thomson Gray.

Work is scheduled to start by the end of this month.

Bancon Homes receives gold accreditation for customer satisfaction

North-east housebuilder Bancon Homes has received a gold award in recognition of outstanding customer service.

Surveys by independent customer satisfaction company In-house Research revealed that 98% of Bancon’s customers were thrilled with the service they received and would recommend them to others.

Customers who bought a new-build house in 2017 were contacted by researchers by telephone, and asked questions about the homebuyer journey and experience with their builder They were then asked a specific ‘yes’ or ‘no’ question as to whether they would recommend their builder based on the whole experience of purchasing a new home.

Bancon Homes has been building homes in the North-east of Scotland for more than 25 years.

Aggreko to invest £33m in Dumbarton facility

Up to £33 million is being invested by power supply firm Aggreko at its facility in Dumbarton.

The initiative is being supported by a £1.5m research and development (R&D) grant from Scottish Enterprise, which will also help create 23 new jobs.

With Aggreko seeking to design and build a new range of power generators, three projects are being supported by the R&D grant:

CGC helps Inverclyde Council create new World War One memorial

City Gate Construction has praised Inverclyde Council for creating a new memorial to local men who fought in the First World War.

The memorial commemorates the sacrifice of the so-called “Toll Boys” – 29 Port Glasgow men who gave their lives in the service of their country.

An original bronze plaque bearing the names of the 29 Toll Boys has now been moved from the wall of the building at 5 Glasgow Road - where the old Toll House stood - to allow for the regeneration of the local area.

City Gate Construction was appointed by the council to undertake the work.

The Toll Boys were all local unemployed men who spent their days repairing furniture at the Toll House to help others in the local community.

Ronald Wilson is chair of the Kindred Clubs of Port Glasgow who asked for Council support for the new memorial.

CGC director Ronnie McDowell said: “This was a particularly special task which CGC carried out given the important place in history that the Toll Boys have. We feel privileged to have been chosen to undertake it. It is particularly relevant that Inverclyde Council - to its great credit - chose the centenary of the ending of the First World War to create this new monument to local lives that were lost.”

The work involved forming a new concrete foundation and the actual structure was created using grey granite. The existing plaque was cleaned before being installed and new kerbing and paving was used to finish the job. A re-dedication ceremony for the monument will be held later this year.

New council homes taking shape on Motherwell site

A visit has taken place to mark the progress of new build council homes at the site of a former primary school site in Motherwell.

The new development being built at the Calder Primary School site in Draffen Street by North Lanarkshire Council consists of 30 units - a mix of cottage flats, both semi and terraced homes and amenity housing.

Due for completion in January 2019, the project forms part of the council’s new council house building programme NL Homes which will see 2,150 homes built by 2027.

Attending the progress visit were Councillors Allan Graham and Ann Weir together with representatives from North Lanarkshire Council and developer Robertson Partnership Homes.

The Scottish Government contributes towards the development costs at each site.

North Lanarkshire residents asked about tower demolition plans

People living in council tower blocks and flats in North Lanarkshire identified for potential demolition will see information packs and surveys delivered through their doors this week.

North Lanarkshire Council is seeking the views of every resident who may be affected in the first phase demolition plans for some blocks of flats in Motherwell, Wishaw, Airdrie and Coatbridge.

Residents affected will be given the opportunity to have their say on the ambitious redevelopment plans and the type of future housing they would require.

Information packs will be delivered to each affected household by a local housing officer, who will be on hand to answer any questions.

The packs will include details of which blocks have been identified, why they are being considered for demolition, timescales involved, where people may be rehoused, compensation payments, details of open days and the survey questionnaire.

The flats identified in the first phase are:

Information packs will be delivered from week commencing April 9. The online survey can be found here.

Fall in home improvement planning applications

Home improvement planning applications across Scotland decreased slightly through 2017, one of only two areas across Great Britain to see figures slide, a new study has found.

The ‘Home Improvers of Great Britain 2018’ report, compiled by construction industry analysts Barbour ABI, shows that for every 100 private homes, Scotland had on average 1.1 home improvement applications in 2017, below the British average of 2.1.

A total of 22,000 applications were submitted in Scotland for home improvement in 2017. In this year’s report, Argyll and Bute led all districts across the region with 2 applications per 100 private homes, taking the top spot from last year’s leader East Lothian.

Out of the top ten districts it was Stirling that saw the largest growth in applications with a 12% increase, and jumping straight to third place as a new entry.

Across much of Great Britain home improvement activity tends to be more prevalent in less urban areas with Scotland no exception, as Glasgow and Renfrewshire sit at the bottom of the Scottish home improvement table.

Looking at the type of improvements made in applications, the bright area for Scotland seems to be rear single-storey extensions. Over the past five years there has been a 28% rise in this type of application, with the bulk of the rise being in more recent times.

The Office for National Statistics Family Spending survey suggests that households in Scotland on average spent above £850 a year altering and improving their homes across 2016 and 2017. This totals about £2 billion spent across the nation.

Dundee City Council names apprentice of the year

Fourth-year painter Declan Collins has been presented with the Bill Mckay Trophy after being named as Dundee City Council’s apprentice of the year.

Runner-up was first-year apprentice plasterer Tommy Mckinlay.

The trophy was donated in memory of the late Bill Mckay, depute director of Contract Services, which is now in Neighbourhood Services, from 1984-1993. It is presented annually to the apprentice who has achieved the best results at college and at work throughout the year.