Building Briefs – July 30th

• Castlecary House Hotel unveils new facilities

The £400,000 funding package from Barclays has enabled the owners to completely refurbish the bar area of the hotel, creating the new Cary Bar and Grill bistro. The hotel has also created two additional function rooms, including a new lounge and private area, for dining and events.

Castlecary House Hotel was acquired by its current owners in October 2017, with the help of a loan from Barclays. Since then, it has continued to grow in popularity and is set to host more than 70 major events and weddings this year, in addition to its renowned Christmas season events. Barclays provided further support in 2018, enabling the hotel to offer guests a choice of two bridal suites and three deluxe double bedrooms.

• Irvine town centre makeover reaches final stages

The final leg of the works that will transform Irvine’s town centre is now under way. Contractor MacLay Civil Engineering has completed High Street North and has almost finished High Street South with minor works to be taken care off shortly.

Now it will turn its attention to Bank Street at the end of this month as it moves closer to completing the work.

New modern paving – in keeping with the Bridgegate and works most recently carried out in High Street North and High Street South - will be put in place and widened footpaths will provide more room for pedestrians and shoppers.

During the works, Bank Street will be open to one-way traffic going from High Street to East Road. Towards the end of this four-month period the road will be closed in order to complete the works to the carriageway.

Access to properties will be available at all times. 

Over the coming weeks and months, North Ayrshire Council will also be introducing trees to the southern end of the High Street and adding new street furniture across the town centre.

• Office demand and overseas investment dominate in Scotland over Q2

Glasgow and Edinburgh, along with other regional office markets, have boasted on trend take-up over Q2, with activity skewed towards larger deals and city centre markets, according to the latest Big Nine update from Avison Young.

The key office letting deal in Glasgow city centre during Q2 was to hotel chain Hilton taking 41,665 sq ft of offices at the recently refurbished 191 West George Street. There were also two c.20,000 sq. ft transactions to artificial intelligence company ARM and JP Morgan Chase.

Clydesdale Bank, which took a pre-let of 110,000 sq ft at 177 Bothwell Street last year, has taken a further 13,000 sq. ft at Granite House, 31 Stockwell Street.

There is 1,054,000 sq ft under construction in Glasgow, including Atlantic Quay, Buchanan Wharf and 177 Bothwell Street. Of this, 767,000 sq ft is pre-committed (Barclays, Clydesdale and GPA) and 287,000 sq. ft is available, although discussions are already taking place with occupiers for this space.

Headline rents have remained at £32.50 per sq ft, although the current scarcity of grade A availability means that secondary/ grade B headline rents have also increased, and combined with reducing rent free periods, net rental growth in this sector continues to accelerate.

The report reveals that Edinburgh was only one of two regions where there was a heavy skew of overseas investment, totalling circa £200 million each. This can be demonstrated by the purchase of the mixed use 4-8 St Andrew Square by KanAm Grundinvest Fonds for c £120m.

The trend towards flexible workspace deals has also continued and this has been echoed by the Edinburgh market where the most significant deals in the market were to co-working companies. WeWork took 40,500 sq. ft at 80 George Street in the city centre and Instant Offices took 35,600 sq. ft out-of-town at Broadstone in the Gyle. WeWork are also understood to be looking closely at the Glasgow market.

For more information, please read the full report here.

• Elderpark adaptation turns a house into family home

A family who had been renting privately in unsuited accommodation in the north of Glasgow have spoken of their joy after moving into a specially-adapted home with Elderpark Housing.

Two of the Khan family’s children have particular health requirements so finding a suitable property had proven a challenge for them.

But the dilemma was solved after Elderpark Housing purchased a spacious three-bedroom property from a private landlord through funding provided by Glasgow City Council’s affordable housing programme.    

Ideally suited for the family, Elderpark set to work adapting it substantially taking advantage of a Glasgow City Council grant to cover 50 per cent of the costs to do this work.

The Khan family - made up of dad Abdul, mum Rasheda and their family Rasheeqa (20) Namood (17) and Jazeb (11) – are overjoyed with their new home.

Before they moved into their new home, Elderpark Housing undertook a number of improvements including installing new central heating, new decoration, new family bathroom, new windows and a new kitchen bringing a new lease of life to the home and making it fresh and bright for the family to move in to.

• Playtime in Stirling as xouncil investment gets parks in full swing

Children and families across Stirling are enjoying the benefits of the council’s continued commitment to investing in local play areas.

More than 20 new items of play equipment have recently been funded from Stirling Council’s Investment in Play Areas programme.

The programme helps replace dated play equipment to ensure parks are up to standard for both today’s and future generations of Stirling’s children, while engaging with individual communities so they can have a voice on the specific equipment needed for their local play areas.

During 2019/20 an investment of £180,000 will be made in play park redevelopments across Stirling, including council funding, developer contributions and external grants.