Building Briefs – June 19th

Garnock Community Campus has been officially opened by John Swinney, the Deputy First Minister and cabinet secretary for education and skills.

The £40 million school, community and leisure campus serves the Garnock Valley’s three main towns - Kilbirnie, Beith and Dalry.

The new facility on Beith Road accommodates pupils from the former Garnock Academy, Glengarnock Primary School and Glengarnock Early Years class.

As well as providing state-of-the-art educational facilities for pupils, the campus includes a high-quality, six-lane swimming pool leisure facility, operated by KA Leisure, a number of sports halls, and a synthetic pitch suitable for rugby and football.

Michael McBrearty, chief executive of development partner hub South West, said: “Garnock is a wonderfully innovative and modern community campus that encourages open, shared learning and includes some of the most modern facilities in the area.

“We have worked closely with North Ayrshire Council and contractor Kier Construction throughought the development process, and it’s fantastic to now see the positive outcome, with pupils and the local community now enjoying this first-class facility.”

Managing director of Kier Construction’s Scotland & north-east England business, Brian McQuade, said: “Educational projects form a significant part of our operations at Kier and we are pleased to have delivered this leading facility for students in the Garnock Valley so they can learn and thrive.

“Through hub South West Scotland, we are currently working on five major schools projects in Ayrshire. Garnock is the first of these to complete.

“We worked with local suppliers and SMEs to ensure this project contributed to the local economy. During the construction of Garnock Community Campus we created 15 apprenticeships and 19 work placements, giving local young people a unique insight into the diverse range of roles available in the construction industry.”

£8.9m funding for new Lightweight Manufacturing Centre

A specialist centre to develop new manufacturing processes for lightweight materials for the aerospace and automotive industries is to be set up as a first step towards creating a National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland.

The First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced today that the £8.9m Lightweight Manufacturing Centre, being set up in the former Doosan Babcock facility in Westway, Renfrew, will support highly skilled jobs and help place Scotland at the forefront of lightweight manufacturing.

It will be run by the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC) in Inchinnan.

The centre will give Scottish companies a competitive edge in new manufacturing processes for lightweight materials such as titanium and carbon fibre, which are increasingly being used in the aerospace, automotive, oil and gas and renewables industries. Lightweight materials increase efficiency and performance and help reduce carbon emissions.

Young Fife job seekers complete Taylor Wimpey East Scotland Hand Picked Academy

Thirteen young people from across Fife boosted their chances of finding a job by completing the Hand Picked training academy, sponsored by Taylor Wimpey East Scotland.

The 16-23 year-olds, a mix of school and college leavers and unemployed young adults trying to get back into work, took part in a range of workshops and site visits throughout the week, before being interviewed for one of Taylor Wimpey East Scotland’s apprenticeships.

Designed by CR Smith boss, Gerard Eadie CBE, the Hand Picked Academy is part of an employer-based programme of initiatives to support young people into work. It is built to challenge perceptions of the workplace, while equipping candidates with the necessary skills and knowledge to enable them look for and secure employment for themselves.

As a result of taking part in the Academy, six of the 13 candidates have progressed to the second stage of the recruitment process and are being considered for a bricklaying and joinery apprenticeship.

The week-long course was held at the housebuilder’s Dunfermline office. It began with sessions on “marketing and selling yourself” through application letters, CVs, online profiles and making the right first impression, followed by workshops on the art of conversation, confidence and interview techniques.

The candidates went on to meet with site managers, trainee engineers, management apprentices and office-based staff to learn about the jobs available at Taylor Wimpey, and enjoyed an informal session with the housebuilder’s Managing Director Ian Drummond..

The Taylor Wimpey East Scotland Hand Picked Academy was specifically designed to help the housebuilder recruit new apprentices, while giving all candidates the opportunity to learn how to improve their job prospects.

Dumfries hospital project targeted by thieves

Thieves have made off with a haul of tools from a multi-million pound construction site in Dumfries.

The incident happened at the new hospital on Garroch Loaning overnight between Thursday and Friday.

Electric drills, a plunge saw, a jig-saw, two laser-levels and various hand tools, drill bits and batteries worth more than £3,000 were taken.

PC Emily Conroy told the BBC: “We are keen to hear from anyone who may have any information about this theft.

“Likewise we would want to hear from anyone who may be offered any similar tools for sale.”

A96 Dualling (Hardmuir to Fochabers) public exhibitions

Following initial options assessment for the A96 dualling scheme between Hardmuir and Fochabers, no further design work is to take place in the vicinity of the Pluscarden Valley near Elgin.

Initial design and assessment work showed that options in the Pluscarden area did not perform well in terms of traffic and these have now been ruled out.

Locals and road users can view the remaining 34 combinations of options to be taken forward for further design and assessment at a series of public exhibitions starting today in Elgin.

Dailly and Annbank celebrate community life at official openings

Two of South Ayrshire’s rural communities are celebrating the latest investment in education and community life.

South Ayrshire Council has officially opened both the new Dailly Primary School, and the Annbank Primary School extension, with children and families among the VIP guests.

Dailly Primary – the new £3.8 million two-storey school has space for 100 children. The school has also been designed to accommodate 30 children in an integrated Early Years centre, something that allows three and four year olds to attend in a single session. The project was delivered by Morrison Construction.

Annbank Primary – the £2m extension has created a community campus incorporating a new gym hall, as well as a multi-use hall, that can be used by the community during the day. The new campus includes a community library, accessible changing rooms, a new kitchen, substantial storage space, and new PE equipment. The project was delivered by Ashleigh (Scotland) Ltd.

The projects are part of a £94m pipeline of works being delivered across South Ayrshire in the next 12 months, with the aim of enhancing standards through a widespread improvement programme.

College students excel in bricklaying and plastering competitions

Students from City of Glasgow College, Glasgow Kelvin College and South Lanarkshire College competed in the 2017 Incorporation of Masons Pre-Apprentice Competition in Bricklaying and Plastering, which took place in Glasgow Kelvin College.

In the plastering section, students were asked to render a rough wall with two coats of plaster to tight dimensions. It took most of the day to level the wall, set out the area to be plastered, mount the borders and then plaster and finish the wall to a highly smooth standard.

The competition was marked by Phil Inglis of City of Glasgow College and Lewis Anderson of South Lanarkshire College who were both impressed with the accuracy and quality of work by all the students.

The winner was Declan Collins of South Lanarkshire College.

Like the Plastering Competition, the Bricklaying Competition was designed to stretch the students’ ability and also show the ability to work to a tight timeline. The judges for this competition were John Weir of City of Glasgow College, Jim Neil a retired Senior Lecturer from Kelvin College and Ian MacPherson of CITB.

Once again the marking between students was very close, but the final winner was Matthew Callaghan from South Lanarkshire College.

Barratt Homes delivers summer site safety talk to St Aidan’s Primary

Barratt Homes hosted an interactive site safety discussion with St Aidan’s Primary School in Wishaw to remind youngsters of the dangers within its nearby live construction development.

This visit formed part of a series of Site Safety by the housebuilder.

The Site Safety Roadshow has seen Stewart and his team of construction site experts deliver 40 minute interactive presentation which have included a video, question and answer session, kids sized personal protection equipment (PPE) for the children to try on as well as an information pack for school staff to distribute to pupils and parents as they see fit.

Barratt Homes currently has over 30 live construction sites across Scotland.