Building Briefs – June 25th

• Savills completes sale of 110 St Vincent Street for £48.4m

With support from Savills, the sale was made to Korean clients of Knight Frank Investment Management, advised by Knight Frank.

Steeped in history, the building was designed by renowned architect James Miller and opened in 1927 as the new head office for The Union Bank of Scotland. Following a merger with the Bank of Scotland in 1955, it became the bank’s chief office in Glasgow.

More recently the building was comprehensively refurbished to provide 96,751 sq ft of modern Grade A office accommodation whilst retaining the original listed façade and magnificent banking hall.

• CALA builds on customer service success with top industry accolade

CALA Homes (North) has been recognised for its dedication to customer care, scooping the prestigious Outstanding Customer Service honour at the Trades Awards 2019.

Acknowledging CALA’s exceptional work in the property industry across Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, the leading housebuilder was honoured alongside tradespeople from across the North East for their talents and dedication to the trades.

Presented at a glittering ceremony hosted at Ardoe House Hotel in Aberdeen, the annual ceremony awarded 14 individuals and businesses for their commitment to the sector, as well as their ingenuity and innovation.

Stuart Moggach, customer experience manager at CALA Homes (North), collected the award on the evening.

CALA Homes currently has five live developments across the North East of Scotland – Cults Park in Cults; CALA at Grandhome in Bridge of Don; Craibstone Estate in Aberdeen; Milltimber Manor at Oldfold Village in Milltimber; and The Grove in Inverurie.

• BAM and Lourdes scoop top award for hoarding artwork

Pupils from Lourdes Secondary in Glasgow’s south-side have won a UK wide art competition organised by the Considerate Constructors Scheme.

BAM Construction’s Atlantic Square project team invited second and third year pupils to design a mural for the Ivor Goodsite Competition based on the theme of BAM’s 150th Anniversary which is being celebrated across the Royal BAM Group this year.

The winning design will be displayed on the Atlantic Square site hoarding and be included within a special UK brochure. A trophy and medals will be presented to the winning pupils with BAM adding a £150 Amazon voucher.

• Next funding bid made for Union Chain Bridge

The next funding bid has been made to help restore the historic Union Chain Bridge - and if successful, major works will start early next year.

In March 2018, a first round National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) bid by Northumberland County Council, Museums Northumberland, community group Friends of the Union Chain Bridge and Scottish Borders Council to completely restore the famous structure, secured a £360,000 development grant.

The development work has included detailed investigations to assess the condition of every element of the bridge and how best to undertake the conservation and repair works.

This development work is now complete, with the project now seeking grant funding to support the implementation of the £8.1 million ‘delivery phase’, with the submission of a second round bid to the NLHF for £3.14m.

A decision on the bid is expected in September.

• Housing association ‘delighted’ at national award recognition

Cunninghame Housing Association’s new build housing development at Weirston Road, Kilwinning was recognised as the Large Affordable Housing Development of the Year (social rent) at the recent Scottish Home Awards.

The new development provided the following high-quality accommodation to help regenerate the local area.

With a total of 64 new build homes for rent, the development includes a mixture of 2 and 3 bedroom general needs houses, amenity cottage flats for older and less mobile people as well as two houses designed specifically for those with wheelchair needs.

Frank Sweeney, group chief executive of the Cunninghame Housing Association Group of Companies, said: “The Association is absolutely delighted that its Weirston Road new build at Kilwinning has won a national award of this calibre.

“This award again demonstrates what good partnership working with North Ayrshire Council and the Scottish Housing Regulator in terms of delivering on the council’s Strategic Housing Investment Programme.”

• School pupils get a lesson at Taylor Wimpey development

Children from a primary school in East Calder have been given an exciting opportunity to see the new homes that are under construction at Taylor Wimpey’s Calderwood development as part of their eco project to learn more about sustainability.

Youngsters from the Primary 6 class from St Paul’s Primary School explored the leading housebuilder’s development to learn more about the new homes; saw various stages of construction; watched a mini-bricklaying session; and took the opportunity to visit the show home at the development.

Whilst the children were at the development, the team took the opportunity to remind the children never to play near a building site and that a school visit was extra-special because normally there are no children allowed near any construction.  Never playing near a construction site is a message that Taylor Wimpey is keen to reinforce to the wider local community – especially ahead of the summer school holiday.