Building Briefs – August 28th

• Work completes on new Roystonhill Community Hub

An official opening event took place on August 16 and was attended by numerous funders and partners who helped make the ‘Hub on the Hill’ project a reality.

The stunning new building replaces the old Rainbow Hall while retaining its fabulous façade ensuring the new building complements local surroundings, including the impressive, adjacent Townhead / Blochairn Church Spire, visible across the city and beyond.

The building was purchased by Spire View from the Church of Scotland thanks to financial support from the Scottish Land Fund and works were undertaken by Fleming Buildings Ltd. The new Hub was designed by MAST Architects with support from the design team members; Reid Associates, G3 Consulting Engineers Ltd, Design Me and MBLA.

The new facility includes two community halls, community café area, large flexible meeting space, commercial kitchen, reception area with open plan office space, smaller additional office space, interview room and community shop unit.

Meanwhile, significant environmental works on the adjacent ‘Spire Park’ site, owned by Rosemount Spire and Park Limited, a subsidiary of the Rosemount Development Trust, are also complete. Spire View Housing Association and the Development Trust, with the support of the Royston Strategy Group, worked in partnership to make this fantastic project a reality for the local Royston community.

• £6.5m affordable housing investment ‘on track’ in Moray

Moray Council has said it is on track to deliver almost £6.5 million of affordable housing this year.

The authority has already met its target for 28 completions in Buckie since the start of the financial year. Works are under way on another 102 homes in Elgin, Hopeman and Mosstodloch, and site starts are scheduled for 67 homes in Keith and Aberlour this year. Currently, an average of 65 homes are forecast to be completed annually between 2019/20 and 2021/22.

Working with housing associations and developers, Moray Council is meeting its objectives under the Moray Affordable Housing Supply Programme and, with good progress on projects in Elgin, Buckie and Aberlour, it’s anticipated the programme will deliver on its projected spend of £6.49 million for 2019/20.

Feedback from tenants living in new affordable housing has been considered and, as a result, forthcoming developments will feature triple glazing to improve heat retention; larger level access shower areas; variable height worktops in wheelchair-accessible bungalows and, where possible, direct access to the garden from the kitchen.

• Taylor Wimpey to hold public consultation for development in Bilston

Taylor Wimpey East Scotland and Hallam Land Management are planning to hold a public consultation for the development of more land at Seafield Road in Bilston.

The organisations plan to make a planning application to Midlothian Council for the creation of an estimated 250 homes through the development of further land at Seafield Road in Bilston.

Before the application is made, the developers are hosting a public consultation event on Thursday 12 September 2019 at Bilston Miners Welfare and Social Club from 2pm-8pm. The consultation is being carried out to ensure that the local community are fully informed of its proposals for phase 2 of the development.

The public consultation event allows Taylor Wimpey East Scotland and Hallam Land Management to share their proposals for the development with the public and to listen to their views as the plans for this key development evolve over the coming months.

• Fife Council welcomes 25 new Building Services apprentices

Twenty-five new apprentices have begun their apprenticeships with Fife Council’s Building Services this week.

The 25 young individuals have started their four-year apprenticeship with Fife Council and will undertake training as joiners, electricians, plumbers, gas technicians, painters, stonemason, bricklayers and plasterers.

Building Services has trained over 530 apprentices since 1996 and demand for positions is always high. The council currently has 107 construction apprentices in training.

Alongside welcoming the 25 new apprentices, 22 outgoing apprentices were also honoured at a get together of both the new intake and the out-going apprentices, attended by Provost Jim Leishman, service manager Ross Grieve, the apprentice scheme team and colleagues from Buildings Services.

Of 22 outgoing apprentices, 14 have been kept on as full-time employees by Fife Council. The other eight are pursuing opportunities out with the council as time-served tradespersons in their specialist fields.

• Housing association celebrates ‘Park on the Hill’ regeneration milestone

Copperworks Housing Association has celebrated another significant milestone in the regeneration of its local community.

Following several years of hard work and determination Copperworks, with the support of local residents and the Royston Strategy Group, finally acquired a large area of derelict land known locally as the ‘Triangle Site’ in September last year.

Now renamed the ‘Park on the Hill’, this former blight on the local community is finally taking shape as a valuable green space for leisure and recreation, play and as a civic amenity space.

A cash boost of £419,000 from the Scottish Land Fund enabled Copperworks to bring the site back into local ownership and conduct a feasibility study, in full consultation with the local community.

Further financial support of £438,421 from the Scottish Government’s Vacant and Derelict Land Fund along with £31,500 from the local Rosemount Development Trust allowed the Association to undertake significant remediation works. The community now has an open, usable greenspace with further improvements and development already planned in consultation with local residents.

The Association extended its thanks to all its funders for “their invaluable support in bringing this land back into community ownership and control”, as well as to Glasgow City Council’s Development and Regeneration Services Department for their “unwavering support”.

• Two platforms at Glasgow Queen Street to close for a month

Two platforms at one of Glasgow’s largest rail stations will be shut for a month to complete a multi-million-pound redevelopment.

Network Rail will close platforms four and five at Glasgow Queen Street station from mid-next month until mid-October.

Both platforms will be extended by 26m to allow trains of up to eight carriages to use the station.

Network Rail said the majority of train services into the station will be unaffected during the four-week closure. There will be alterations to some services running to Anniesland, Edinburgh via Cumbernauld and Falkirk Grahamston, and Aberdeen and Inverness.

The platforms will be closed from 16 September to 14 October.

• Sleat set for new build nursery

Highland councillors have agreed that a new nursery unit to accommodate both English and Gaelic Medium in Sleat should be built as part of the roll-out of the 1140 hours early years education programme. 

Over the past year, a working group has considered a range of options for what new ELC provision could look like for Bun-sgoil Shlèite as from August 2020 the requirement is for nurseries to operate full-day sessions.

The decision to build a new Sleat nursery unit has been identified as a council priority and will see the creation of suitable accommodation necessary to fully support the expanded ELC service. This will include two rooms, one for the Gaelic Medium class and one for the English Medium class.

It is expected that a further £325,000 will be allocated from the School Estate Investment Programme capital budget for the formation of a new car park and associated works to improve safety and security at the site, along with minor improvements to the former school house now used as a classroom/teaching space.  These improvement works will be undertaken with the Bun-Sgoil Shlèite community in order to improve community relations and seek greater collaboration.

• Funding announced for local rail development fund

Eight communities across Scotland are to benefit from a share of £817,000 from a Local Rail Development Fund (LRDF), transport secretary Michael Matheson has confirmed.

The cabinet secretary made the announcement during a visit to see progress at the £14.5 million Kintore station site, which is being progressed by Transport Scotland and Network Rail, in partnership with Nestrans and Aberdeenshire Council. The station project forms part of the wider £330m Aberdeen – Inverness Improvements project, the latest phase of which has seen the line between Aberdeen and Inverurie double tracked.

LRDF supports local and regional initiatives through grants to fund appraisal work; this will help applicants develop an evidence base for potential improvements. The cabinet secretary was joined in Kintore by Nestrans which has secured funding to take forward appraisal work for a project which explores cross-Aberdeen rail travel.

The LRDF has attracted strong interest, with the most recent eight awards bringing the total amount allocated to around £1.5m of an available £2m funding pot.

• Councillors approve plans for McDonald’s near new Aberdeen FC stadium

Plans for a new McDonald’s, near the future home of Aberdeen Football Club, have been backed by councillors.

The proposals for the restaurant in Westhill were voted through by nine votes to four, despite concerns about road safety, litter and an influx of gulls.

• Hill House gains museum accreditation for first time

Cared for by the National Trust for Scotland and currently undergoing a radical conservation project, Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s ‘domestic masterpiece’ The Hill House in Helensburgh has gained official museum accreditation for the first time.

The Museum Accreditation Scheme is the UK industry standard for museums and galleries and is assessed by Museums Galleries Scotland in conjunction with Arts Council England, the Welsh Government and the Northern Ireland Museums Council. It is a benchmark that recognises how museums are run, how the collections are managed and how the venue engages with audiences.

The Hill House accreditation makes it the tenth National Trust Property to be recognised in this way. Properties owned by the charity already holding accreditation are Culloden, Culross Palace, House of Dun, Fyvie Castle, Broughton House, Pollok House, Robert Burns Birthplace Museum, Brodick Castle and Hugh Miller’s Birthplace Cottage.

• Outer Hebrides to receive ultra-fast broadband

Outer Hebrides communities now have access to new full fibre broadband networks.

Each of the 113 households in Grimsay, an island roughly three miles long and half again in width, joined to North Uist and Benbecula by a causeway, is now able to access reliable ultrafast broadband. Subsequently, 65% of households have already signed up for the service.

Similarly, 220 households on Great Bernera, 100 miles north of Grimsay, can connect to the ultrafast network.

The networks were installed by engineers from Openreach through the Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband project, led in the area by Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

The network has been constructed using 90KM of new fibre cables, capable of carrying services at 1Gbps which is around 18.5 times faster than the UK’s current average of 54 Mbps.

Previously, these two have been connected to the internet by a wireless connection over an independent radio network, with a top download speed of around 2Mbps. For people living in Grimsay and Grea Bernera, the installation of reliable, full fibre broadband is revolutionary.