Building Briefs - June 30th

Bellway Site managers land Pride In The Job Awards

Bellway site managers George Carty and Graeme Logan are celebrating winning prestigious building industry awards.

George, from Cumbernauld Village, has been selected for a Pride in the Job Quality Award for his work at Manor Park in Carrickstone, while Johnstone’s Graeme receives the same award for Ferry Village in Renfrew.

They will be presented with their awards at the Scotland Region lunch on Friday 29th September at the Hilton in Glasgow.

It is the sixth time George has landed a Pride in the Job Award and this latest recognition is doubly impressive as it comes just weeks after he was awarded another NHBC Health and Safety Award. Last year he also won the national runner up title in the Large Builder Category of NHBC’s Pride in the Job Supreme Awards – the top category possible.

George said: “It is amazing to have won another Pride in the Job Award particularly on a new site with a new team of subcontractors. Maintaining a consistently high standard of work takes a lot of effort from everyone on the site not just me, but it is very satisfying when you see the quality of homes being built.”

Meanwhile Graeme has landed his first Pride in the Job award and said he is delighted to have been recognised by judges.

Pride in the Job is the house-building industry’s most prestigious awards programme. Running for 37 years, Pride in the Job is dedicated to recognising site managers who achieve the highest standards in house-building.

The pair are among 450 winners from across the UK drawn from an initial pool of 16,000 site managers. They will go on to be entered for the Seal of Excellence and Regional Awards.

Fraser Conn, Sales Director, Bellway Homes Ltd (Scotland) added: “Both George and Graeme are exceptional site managers who always go the extra mile, motivating their teams, keeping the build programme running smoothly, fostering good relationships with contractors and ensuring that our buyers are never less than delighted with the quality of their new homes. We are really pleased for Graeme for landing hopefully his first of many Pride in the Job Awards.”

Pride in the Job celebrates the contribution site managers make and judging starts a year before the first round winners. As well as undergoing spot checks on the day-to day running of the sites, each site manager is assessed across 37 areas of site management, including their technical knowledge, consistency in the build process and the quality controls they have in place.

Plans drawn up for new visitor base at Tentsmuir

Plans have emerged for a new visitor centre at a Fife beauty spot.

Scottish National Heritage was recently granted funding for the proposed facility at Tentsmuir Point, near Tayport and Dundee-based architect Kirsty Maguire has been commissioned to design the new building.

Now the organisation is set to launch a bid for planning permission and planning and building warrant applications are now being submitted to Fife Council.

The nature reserve has offered an education programme for 17 years but has never had a facility to accommodate visitors during bad weather.

Scottish National Heritage hopes the new building will provide the perfect starting point for school, college and university visits.

If approved, the work would then be put out to tender with the charity hoping to begin work in the autumn.

Community trust hopes hub can cash in on V&A visitors

Tayport Community Trust has purchased the site of the former Abertay Works in Dundee with plans to create a community hub in the hope of capitalising on the wave of tourists expected to visit Dundee’s V&A Museum.

More than £1 million of Big Lottery funding has been obtained for the project, and the trust has around 12 months to net a further £1m to see its plans come to fruition.

Aside from being able to accommodate visiting tourists, it is hoped the site will host a play area and cafe, art space and offices for rent.

Community trust spokesman Will Whitfield said the hub would appeal to tourists visiting the V&A.

He said: “The hub as it stands will allow for sporting activities, but it will also potentially be a site for camping. “This will be separately funded. “The hub itself would be available for anyone using the caravan site to use. This is the kind of thing we envisage as being able to get the hub to be sustainable.

“Clearly the Big Lottery think our business plan has a chance of working.”

Go-head for £6.4million luxury Inverness hotel

Plans for a new £6.4million luxury hotel in the heart of Inverness has been the Highland capital’s planning officials.

The directors of the city’s Kingsmills Hotel have been given the go-ahead for a major revamp of the Maple Court Hotel, on the banks of the River Ness.

Work will now get under way to transform the eight-bed guesthouse into an “aspirational 5-star” hotel with 48 rooms and a high-quality restaurant.

The development is expected to create 60 jobs and secure the future of the B-listed Maple Court on Ness Walk.

Local authority planning officers approved the proposals under delegated powers after the designs were tweaked to avoid an objection from Historic Environment Scotland.

Formerly the home of Dr William Simpson, a provost of the Royal Burgh of Inverness, the mid 19th-century villa is B-listed and the designers carefully retained important features such as the ceiling, cornices and veranda canopy, as well as the trees in the gardens.

The existing building would remain, with its interior transformed and a two-and-a-half storey extension built to house almost all of the bedrooms, as well as creating a new courtyard.

Approving the scheme, planning officials said: “It is considered that, while large, the use of high quality materials and a combination of modern and traditional design will result in a development which will enhance its surroundings as well as ensuring the viability of an important building and bringing associated economic benefits to the area.”