Building Briefs – July 25th

East Ayrshire to adopt Council Tax changes to reduce empty buildings

New rules are to be introduced by East Ayrshire Council which will make it more expensive for owners to leave their properties unoccupied.

Traditionally, properties which are unoccupied and unfurnished for up to six months are exempt from Council Tax. Thereafter the owner could claim a 50% discount for a further six months. After 12 months, the council awarded the maximum permitted discount of 10%.

But following a decision by the local authority’s cabinet, from October, owners who leave their properties empty for more than a year without using them as a second home, renovating or marketing them will now face double council tax charges instead of discounts. The move is in line with Scottish Government guidelines issued in 2013 which give councils the power to decide discount levels and charges.

The changes will come into force from October 1.

Housing plan to demolish Scone pub

Developers have unveiled plans to demolish a family restaurant to pave the way for scores of retirement homes.

Perth-based Juniper Residential wants to build 60 properties at the site of Scone’s Wheel Inn.

The company, which will take charge of the pub and restaurant if its bid for planning permission is successful, said the new estate will help address the area’s ageing population.

If Junipers’ plans are approved, the demolition of the Wheel Inn could begin this time next year.

On Monday, proposals were unveiled to members of the public at a consulation event in the village’s Royal Douglas Memorial Institute.

New eco friendly office hub to create a buzz in Kinross

Webster Developments has announced that it is to build a new eco friendly office HQ at Bridgend Industrial Estate in Kinross to house all of the company’s diverse business interests under one (sedum) roof.

The development will also include eco friendly office pods for let, and hives for producing local honey.

Having initially launched in 2014 with twelve self storage units on Kinross High Street, subsidiary Webster Storage grew quickly and moved to the new industrial site location in July 2017, with some forty six units suitable for both personal and business customers. Planning permission has been secured for another twenty at the site, with the new units expected to be fully functional in the next few months.

The group is run by entrepreneur Daniel Webster, who also lists a luxury housing division and a local honey company in his portfolio.

To add to the site’s uniqueness Webster will also house a number of bee hives on the site which produce his local honey, Webster Honey, another eco friendly and sustainable product.

Finishing works to commence on Charleston slip road

Finishing works are to commence on the Charleston slip road in Aberdeen as part of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project.

The contractor will close the A90 to A956 slip road to complete the work from 27 - 30 July.

Public event to be held on proposed Dingwall redevelopments

A public event is being held on the proposed redevelopments on Dingwall High Street in the Highlands next month.

The proposals involve redeveloping the council offices at Ross House and the former Picture House to create new flats.

The new flats will be a mixture of one- and two-bedroom homes.

Highland Council is hosting the drop-in event in Dingwall Town Hall from 2-7pm on 06 August.

During the event, drawings and plans will be on display and representatives from Highland Council’s Housing team, Ark Estates and the Highland Housing Alliance will be on-hand to answer any questions.

Road resurfacing to commence in Earlston

Resurfacing work is to commence on High Street in Earlston early next month.

A section of the A6105 road will be resurfaced from 01 - 08 August.

Phase one of the project will close a section of the eastern end of the High Street for three days, with the next phase being carried out using a convoy system.

Annual surface dressing work complete in Orkney

Surface dressing work across Orkney has officially been completed for 2018.

The final works for the year were finished on the access road to the Peedie Sea this week.

Extensive surface dressing work was also completed last week on a 1km section of road in Hoy.

Other works have been successfully finished in Holm, Evie, and South Ronaldsay over the last month.

Ground works to take place at Inverness junction

Ground works are to take place at Longman roundabout in Inverness, as part of a traffic bottleneck upgrade project.

Causeway Geotech has secured a contract for investigation works, which are due to commence in early September and take four weeks to complete.