Building Briefs - June 4th

• Local businesses partner on new Dundee show home

Millers of Carnoustie was selected by DJ Laing Homes to fit out the show home at its new Castleview development in Dundee, having previously furnished show homes at the firm’s Malt Loan development in Carnoustie.

The family-run business, which was established in 1999 and has showrooms in Montrose and Carnoustie, supplied large furnishings such as sofas and beds for the show home, as well as soft furnishings and floorings with information dotted around the property to give inspiration to potential buyers.

The Castleview development comprises of 97 contemporary homes in the popular area of Ballumbie on the outskirts of the vibrant city of Dundee.

The opening of the show home ties in with the release of Phase Three which is expected to be ready for occupation in late 2021 with some plots eligible for funding from the Government’s Help to Buy Scheme.

• Consultation launched on future options for Marischal Street in Peterhead

Aberdeenshire Council is consulting businesses and the community over potential options for the future of Marischal Street in Peterhead town centre.

Since the opening of neighbouring Chapel Street to traffic several years ago, complaints have regularly been received around safety, with restrictions on Marischal Street often being overlooked by motorists resulting in conflict between pedestrians and vehicles.

In light of those safety concerns, local councillors ordered a review of the traffic order and a group comprising Aberdeenshire Council officers and elected members – supported by various stakeholders including the council’s Public Transport Unit, Stagecoach, Police Scotland, Rediscover Peterhead (BID) and Peterhead Community Council - discussed the matter and potential options to remedy the issue.

One of the proposed recommendations to come from those discussions was the full pedestrianisation of Marischal Street from Errol Street to Chapel Street which would permanently remove all vehicular traffic from Marischal Street - 24 hours a day.

To mitigate against any potential impact on deliveries to some businesses, the council is proposing the introduction of additional measures such as designated loading bays on Erroll Street and in the Maiden Street car-park.

Additional parking would also be created adjacent to Buchan House, thereby removing the current prohibition of waiting, and a build-out for traffic to slow down when entering Errol Street is also proposed.

Local businesses and Peterhead Community Council are now being consulted and have until June 18 to make comment on the proposals and future mitigation measures.

• A bright new future for Coatbridge club

A former indoor bowling club in Coatbridge has been bought by a voluntary group and will be transformed into a new hub for local people.

Cliftonville and Coatdyke Community Group has worked closely with North Lanarkshire Council, The Development Trust Association for Scotland and the National Lottery to develop a business plan for the regeneration of the building.

Through the Community Asset Transfer scheme and with £190,000 of lottery funding, the group has bought the building and plans to make improvements to it.

When it’s complete, the new hub will offer a range of activities and education opportunities for people of all ages, as well as a café, meeting and events space.

• Town centre funding worth £9 million to Argyll and Bute

Argyll and Bute Council continues its commitment to creating vibrant places to help stimulate local economic recovery.   

The council is delivering £1.686 million of Town Centre funding to 28 projects across Argyll and Bute, with an overall value of £9mto the local economy.

Projects range from improved town centre infrastructure, grants for charitable organisations and help for business owners to improve their shopfronts.

The Scottish Government Town Centre Fund aims to help local authorities stimulate and support place-based economic investment that encourages town centres to flourish.

• Video: Tenants move into new-build council houses in Aberdeen

Tenants have moved into phase one in a development of new council flats which are part of a huge programme building 2,000 new council houses across Aberdeen.

The 67 flats at Wellheads in Dyce are phase one in a mixture of 2 to 8 people flats houses for varying needs with 283 new properties in this development being built by Aberdeen City Council.

The major project which is providing council homes across the city is one of several sites across Aberdeen which form part of the wider Aberdeen City Council Housing Programme aiming to address a long-term shortage of affordable social rented housing in the city.

The homes at Wellheads, with Ogilvie Construction as main contractor and Faithful and Gould as project managers, are also designed to have a high level of energy efficiency throughout and low maintenance external amenity spaces as well as support more walking, cycling and wheeling through Active Travel.

The Wellheads site includes a playground, plenty of green outdoor space, and cycle storage. These homes are heated by Aberdeen Heat and Power combined heat and power plant which utilises waste heat from the production of electricity to heat the homes.

The other sites due to be built include Auchmill, Craighill in Kincorth, the former Kincorth Academy site at Kincorth, Tillydrone, and Kaimhill.

Planning applications for the 99 homes at Craighill, 72 new council homes in Tillydrone and the 213-home development in Kincorth have been submitted to the Planning Authority in recent weeks.

As part of the 2,000 homes project, 99 council homes were built in Smithfield in 2017 and 80 in Manor Walk in 2018. Construction has also started on 369 units at the former Summerhill Academy site at Lang Stracht.

The vision of the Aberdeen City Council’s Housing Programme is to create sustainable integrated communities and places by delivering affordable homes designed for life which meet residents’ current and changing needs, while supporting the wellbeing and resilience of tenants.

They will meet the most demand for council properties including flats for single people, flats for families, semi-detached family homes, terraced houses, wheelchair-friendly properties, and a small number of amenity bungalows. They are being designed for exacting standards including housing for various needs, dementia friendly, low carbon, low maintenance, and to meet the Gold Standard.

• Campbeltown Flood Protection Scheme progresses

Argyll and Bute Council has detailed the progression of the Campbeltown Flood Protection Scheme.

The council said that developing a flood protection scheme for Campbeltown will not only cut down on flood risk, but also deliver financial and economic benefits for homeowners and businesses by avoiding property damage.

The environment, development and infrastructure committee agreed the next stage to progress Campbeltown Flood Protection Scheme (CFPS) on Thursday. The full business case will be developed and invitation to tender issued for the construction of the main flood scheme and supply and installation of property flood resilience measures.

The scheme involves a flood storage area in Millknowe and a partial upsizing on the surface water culvert running along Dalaruan Street, from the proposed storage area. In addition surface water management will be implemented to other areas within the town at The Meadows and Burnside Square to further reduce the risk of flooding to the town.

Property Flood Resilience (PFR) will also be provided to some properties to improve the standard of protection offered by the scheme. These could include barriers on windows and doors; use of non-return valves to prevent backing-up of floodwaters; automatically closing airbricks; and small pump systems.

The Scottish Government is expected to fund 80% of scheme costs up to a total project cost of £9.330 million, resulting in Scottish Government funding £7.464m and the council contributing £1.866m.