Building Briefs – August 29th

Global real estate advisor CBRE has established its Hotels and Alternative Operational Real Estate offering in Scotland, with the hire of hotel specialist Jonathan Mitchell who joins the Hotels team as an associate director alongside experienced valuations expert Kathryn Bennett, who is taking on a new role focusing solely on the Alternatives market.

CBRE Scotland’s bespoke Hotels and Alternatives offering will concentrate on hotels, leisure, healthcare and student accommodation, and will be supported by over 200 specialist professionals across Europe who are dedicated solely to these fast-growing sectors.

Jonathan Mitchell has a wealth of experience and joins the firm from Lambert Smith Hampton, where he advised a diverse mix of clients, from institutional banks through to private individuals across the hotel and leisure industries. He will be based in the firm’s Edinburgh office.

Associate director Kathryn Bennett has worked at CBRE for five years and was previously in the Valuation team. She will continue to be based in the Glasgow office, working closely with the national and London teams to grow the Alternatives practice.

akp set to deliver second unique contemporary office within The Garment Factory

AutoRek, a provider of financial, operational and regulatory reporting and control software, has appointed principal contactor akp to deliver its new 8,385 sq ft office within The Garment Factory.

A category ‘B’ listed building located in the Merchant City Central Conservation Area, The Garment Factory is one of Glasgow’s most notable buildings. Providing 47,382 sq ft of high quality retail and design-focused office space over seven floors.

The new space within The Garment Factory will allow AutoRek to double the size of its presence in Glasgow, representing a significant expansion for the firm.

Most recently akp completed the Fit Out for Glasgow-based digital technology outfit Incremental Group on the 5th Floor of The Garment Factory, the building proving to be a popular choice for business seeking a contemporary and central base in the city.

Borders schools benefit from £4m summer works

Pupils, staff and communities will benefit from improvements totalling over £4 million to a series of schools across the Scottish Borders this summer.

A total of 15 schools have seen a variety of works completed, which will benefit young people across the curriculum, with more to follow as part of an ongoing review of the school estate.

Amongst the largest projects was a £1m spend on a new support centre for children with complex needs at Galashiels Academy, alongside additional improved facilities in the school.

Facilities include teaching rooms, a life skills area, sensory room, therapy space and external play and social spaces for the complex needs centre. Other improvements include new reception, link corridor and social space, pupil toilets, medical room and additional teaching space.

The new complex needs facility is located adjacent to the dining and PE areas to enable increased access for the pupils to wider school activities.

The centre also has its own dedicated entrance to accommodate varied access times if required.

In addition, more than £1m has been spent on four early years centres to help Scottish Borders Council meet the Scottish Government’s initiative to increase provision of free early learning and childcare provision.

Two new nurseries at St Boswells Primary and St Margaret’s Primary in Galashiels have been created and two other facilities at Chirnside and Burgh in Galashiels refurbished to create more capacity.

Hawick High School has also undergone £500,000 worth of major works this summer, including two improved home economics rooms, new-look teaching spaces for complex needs and pupil support and extensive improvements to the school library.

The remaining works have ranged from new kitchen facilities to better social and study areas in high schools and secure receptions in primary schools.

The ongoing upgrades and refurbishments continue with the expansion to the nursery facilities at St Ronan’s and Stirches primaries as the next projects, alongside the creation of additional classrooms and a new nursery space at Priorsford Primary in Peebles and new secure receptions at Reston and Burgh primaries.

Progress continues to be made at the new Jedburgh Intergenerational Community Campus as enabling works currently take place, with an update due to be presented to the Executive Committee on Tuesday 4 September.

Plans to demolish derelict Glasgow pub

A derelict pub in Glasgow city centre could be demolished by city planners to make way for a car park.

A request to demolish the pub at Broomielaw has been submitted to the local authority this week.

The plans state that once the building is demolished, the area will be used as a temporary car park.

Housing bosses share lessons in restoring Victorian tenement block

A Scottish Parliament task force dropped into a Victorian tenement in Edinburgh to learn how a housing association overcame the challenges of carrying out a complex restoration project.

Members of the Scottish Parliamentary Group on Tenement Maintenance visited Dunedin Canmore as part of their work to look at solutions for blocks in shared ownership which are showing signs of disrepair.

They toured the landlord’s Earl Grey Street in the city centre where Dunedin Canmore restored a Victorian tenement as part of its wider strategy to protect the future of its pre-1919 homes. The Earl Grey project, completed last year, was one of the largest and most complex Dunedin Canmore has tackled. It involved work to halt crumbling stonework, as well as work on the outside of the building to repair the original stonework and roof slates.

The 24 homes in the block are a mix of tenants and owners as well as five commercial units including shops and cafes.

The working group, including MSP Graham Simpson, learned about the challenges that restoring Victorian buildings can present, including issues with structure due to the age of the stone and getting buy-in from everyone involved.

They also visited Caledonian Crescent Tenements where Dunedin Canmore is working with residents to progress plans for investment work.

The Scottish Parliamentary Working Group has been set up to help address the condition of Scotland’s buildings and maintaining our built heritage. The most recent Scottish House Condition Survey reported that 68% of all dwellings exhibited some degree of disrepair with challenges around the repair and maintenance of residential buildings under shared ownership.

Sewer infrastructure upgraded in Rhu

The sewer infrastructure in Rhu has been successfully upgraded as part of Scottish Water’s wider £5 million investment programme in Argyll and Bute.

The work involved the construction of two underground septic tanks and 425 metres of new pipework.

Scottish Water’s alliance partners amey Black and Veatch (aBV) carried out the work.