Building Briefs – July 1st

• Big hearted Kier makes significant donation to British Heart Foundation

The money has been raised by employees across the group through various initiatives, including the Boots on for Buildings challenge – which saw  Regional Building Scotland staff and supply chain employees take part in a series of activities including walking 1,600,000 steps, climbing 75,000 feet and holding an office boot camp.  

Donations came from partners and suppliers of Kier, employees and their family and friends with additional support from The Kier Foundation – an independent charity that raises funds and offers practical assistance to charitable bodies throughout the UK. 

In Scotland, Kier Regional Building has trained almost 50% workforce and run various workshops to train supply chain partners in CPR, a lifesaving skill that gives people the confidence to act when they witness a cardiac arrest, and will help to improve survival rates.

• Package of summer works to improve East Kilbride roads

Commuters are being reminded of major roads improvement works in East Kilbride this summer.

Work begins today (1 July) on West Mains Road, from East Mains Road to the Queensway and scheduled to last until July 12th.

Forthcoming works also include:

• Sunday 14 - Sunday 21 July: Eaglesham Road (Peel Road to Police Training College)
• Monday 29 July - Saturday 3 August: Lindsayfield Road (Greenhills Road to Lindsayfield Avenue)
• Sunday 4 - Saturday 10 August: Murray Road/Westwood Road (Owen Avenue to Melbourne Avenue)
• Monday 12 - Sunday 18 August: A71 Darvel Road (B743 Muirkirk Rd to Healds Drive)
• Monday 22 - Friday 26 August:  Stewartfield Way (Kingsgate to Heritage Park roundabout)

For safety reasons, all of these works will require the roads to be closed.

To reduce the impact of road closures, and associated diversions, the works have been planned to take place during the school summer holidays when traffic flows are significantly lighter.

Chair of South Lanarkshire Council’s Community and Enterprise Resources Committee, Councillor John Anderson, said: “These works are essential to improve the road surfaces on a longer-term basis and unfortunately can’t be carried out without some inconvenience to road users.

“We would ask that anyone travelling in any of the areas during the times mentioned pays particular attention to the diversion routes which will be clearly signposted. Every effort will be made to complete these improvements as early as possible to allow the roads to be reopened to traffic.”

• SSEN Transmission publish ‘ambitious plans’ for future electricity system

SSEN Transmission has published ambitious plans for the future of the north of Scotland electricity transmission system.

With the region home to some of the UK’s greatest resources of renewable energy, SSEN Transmission will be at the forefront of the country’s fight to tackle climate change, connecting up more renewable energy and transporting it across the country.

There is growing consensus of the need to fully decarbonise the economy to prevent the worst effects of global warming, with the UK Government committing to achieving net zero emissions by 2050 and the Scottish Government committing to meet this target five years earlier, in 2045. The draft Business Plan reflects this and follows substantial consultation with national and local stakeholders as well as SSEN Transmission’s independent expert RIIO-T2 User Group.

‘A Network for Net Zero’ aims to support both governments’ targets and meet the needs and expectations expressed by stakeholders through five clear, ambitious goals: transport the renewable electricity that powers 10 million homes (circa 10 GW); 100% network reliability for homes and businesses; every connection delivered on time; one third reduction in SSEN Transmission’s greenhouse gas emissions and £100m in efficiency savings from innovation.

SSEN Transmission will now consult further with stakeholders ahead of submitting a final plan to Ofgem in December as part of its RIIO T2 price control process. As part of Ofgem’s consideration of the final plan, the regulator will consult with stakeholders during 2020 before determining what level of investment should be taken forward from 2021 through to 2026.

In the draft Plan, SSEN Transmission’s ‘Certain View’ sets out that a minimum investment of £2.2bn is required over the five-year period to maintain and grow the north of Scotland transmission network to meet the certain needs of current and future electricity generators and customers. A significant proportion of this investment will take place in the north east, with a particular focus on accommodating the growth in offshore wind in the area.

• Funding secured for Argyll and Bute improvement projects

Funding of £1,242,000 has been secured for eight projects across the Argyll and Bute Council area from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund.

The decision was taken at the meeting of full council on 27 June 2019.

The projects identified to receive the funding are Lochgilphead Front Green additional works - £200,000; Bowmore public realm enhancements - £85,000; Campbeltown small-scale shopfront improvements - £50,000; Rosneath Howie Park community-driven enhancements - £90,000; Hermitage Park additional community and events resource - £35,000; Helensburgh Pier pedestrian access enhancements - £85,000; Revitalisation of outdoor event space at Dunoon Public Realm/Band Stand - £200,000; and Rothesay Pontoons - £150,000.

The council agreed to delegate the final decision on the projects suggested for Oban, Lorn and the Isles, to the Executive Director. The next step will be for the local area committee to consider how the money could be distributed to projects, and then a final decision will be made in accordance with the council decision.

• Programme of East Ayrshire road and bridge improvement works ‘well underway’

A £7 million programme of road and bridge improvement works in East Ayrshire is now “well underway”.

The roads infrastructure is one of East Ayrshire Council’s most valuable assets and is vital to the area’s economic well-being, contributing significantly to the local economy and regeneration.

The Ayrshire Roads Alliance’s Roads Maintenance Unit Section has designed a road-resurfacing programme covering 65km of local roads, which will ensure that resurfacing work focuses on the roads most affected by defects, potholes and surface fragmentation.

Teams will be resurfacing substantial stretches of road; moving away from temporary repairs. Since the resurfacing programme began at the end of May, 11.6km of road has now been resurfaced in communities including Ochiltree, Skares, Lawersbridge and Galston.

On Monday 8 July, the team will move to Milrig Crescent in Galston where 220m of road will be resurfaced. On Monday 15 July, they will move to Carron Avenue and Annan Road, Kilmarnock where the full length of both roads will be resurfaced.

On Monday 29 July, the team will move to Auchinleck for a five-week period, where they will be resurfacing 330 metres of Ballochmyle Avenue, 370 metres of Glenshamrock Drive, 270 metres of Aird Avenue, 130 metres of Darnconner Avenue and 200 metres of Peden Drive.

In addition to this extensive resurfacing work, on Monday 29 July 1190 metres of the A713 Waterside to Patna will be resurfaced. On Monday 12 August, Newton Street in Catrine will be resurfaced followed by the full length of the B713 from Main Street, Sorn to B705 Catrine.