Building Briefs - March 11th

• New nursery settings completed in Aberdeen

Tillydrone Nursery is due to be completed early this month, Northfield is due to be completed by the middle of March, joining Kingsford Nursery which completes this week. Following final utilities connections and Care Inspectorate registrations work will proceed towards a formal hand over to the Aberdeen City Council. 

New facilities at Seaton, Tullos and Quarryhill were also completed at the turn of the year.  

Despite the impact of the coronavirus lockdown and the interruptions caused by local and national Tier 4 lockdowns, the new builds across the city comprising Aberdeen City Council’s £23 million investment project have made good progress.

Gordon Milne, regional managing director for Robertson Construction Eastern, said: “As the delivery partner of choice for Aberdeen City Council’s Early Years programme, we could not be prouder of the first-class facilities the Council is adding to its education portfolio. This project exemplifies collaboration between customer and contractor, and we continue to make excellent progress in the delivery of the remaining facilities which are currently on-site or in the design phase.

“We look forward to hearing about the pupil’s response to the recently completed facilities, and to continuing to play our part in assisting the Council achieve its extended Early Years Learning and Childcare hours.”

Managing director at Halliday Fraser Munro, David Halliday, added: “We are committed to delivering quality and efficiency for the education and community sectors. Investments like this one from Aberdeen City Council are a great example of how we can not only help improve children’s learning outcomes but also their health and wellbeing.

“Working alongside Aberdeen City Council has given us the opportunity to further demonstrate our continued innovation in supporting the early years sector, with practical and innovative facility design. We are delighted to continue to support the development of inspiring places for our communities to live, work and learn.”

• Construction work starts at two East Lothian secondary schools

Construction works began this week at two East Lothian secondary schools.

Contractors have begun setting up site compounds at Ross High School, Tranent, and North Berwick High School ahead of extension and reconfiguration projects. 

Works at Ross High School will be undertaken in three phases which will run concurrently: a classroom extension with new social area and dedicated spaces for Art, Business Studies, IT and Modern Languages faculties. hub South East has been appointed to deliver this extension working with contractor Graham Construction Ltd.

Innovate and FES Support Services will undertake internal alterations to the building to improve the function of spaces. This will see new drama and science rooms created, and enhanced spaces for creative learning support including a life skills kitchen. Finally, two further extensions comprising sports hall, changing facilities and PE staff hub also forms part of their works. Construction is expected to complete by Summer 2022. 

A three classroom extension is being built on the south-west elevation of North Berwick High School, behind current CDT and languages labs. The new extension will house new Home Economics, Modern Languages and Social Studies classrooms. A courtyard area within the school will also be covered and developed as a social space. Once the extension is completed, reconfiguration of the school’s existing spaces will take place to provide a new Science faculty and other classrooms. The works will be carried out by FES Support Services. The project is due to finish by Autumn 2022. 

• Smart IoT technology to bring cost savings for remote buildings across the Highlands

Schools, care homes, leisure centres and council offices are among those being transformed into smart buildings across the Scottish Highlands, as part of a new £400k project between the Highland Council and IoT service and solutions provider North.  

The project will use Scotland’s National IoT network, IoT Scotland, along with smart IoT sensors to collect data and gain insights on council buildings including CO2 levels, temperature and humidity, ventilation, electricity consumption and light levels. The data will be used by the council within its data analytics platform to reduce costs and carbon emissions, whilst improving the environment for young people, elderly care home residents, members of the local community, and council staff.

Serving a third of Scotland’s total land area, Highland Council is responsible for a large number of remote buildings which can now be monitored from a centralised point across the IoT network – reducing unnecessary journeys and enabling better use of resources.

North is delivering the project across all Highland Council buildings, with the council able to self-install pre-configured IoT sensors to monitor and gather data on building and room usage. North has supplied its data enablement platform which decodes, stores, visualises and shares information from the sensors, providing the council and its partners with a rich set of data, enabling them to better model building use, identify issues and deliver a more comfortable environment whilst controlling costs.

The council buildings will now benefit from having CO2 levels measured which provides an indication of air quality within a building or room. This is particularly relevant amid the current pandemic to ensure that the circulation of stale and fresh air is monitored to combat spreading grounds for viruses such as Covid-19. Populated areas such as classrooms can also be prone to high levels of CO2, which can affect concentration and work levels. The new sensor technology will allow carbon dioxide levels to be regularly monitored and reported, enabling the council to make any changes required to address this.

Additionally, sensors will inform the council on the usage pattern of each building and the rooms within it, enabling a more tailored and accurate remote control over maintenance, such as heating and lighting, to ensure systems are turned off when not in use – increasing efficiency, saving money on utilities and reducing carbon emissions.  

Temperature and humidity sensors will allow the council to improve the environment within each building and increase comfort for users, prevent frost damage during winter, and detect conditions which could cause damp and mould.

• Moorfield agrees lease renewal with Sonardyne at Aberdeen Energy & Innovation Parks

Moorfield Group, the owner and landlord of Aberdeen Energy and Innovation Parks, has recently agreed lease renewal terms with subsea technology company Sonardyne International Ltd.

Sonardyne has been based at the Energy Park since 2011 and has agreed a new five-year lease on Units 12-14 at the Technology Centre in Bridge of Don. The space extends to 3,628 sq ft.

Sonardyne is an independent and global provider of underwater solutions for the offshore energy, defence and science sectors. The company was founded in 1971 and has built up solid application knowledge and engineering capacity over the past fifty years.

The space at Aberdeen is used for sales, training, equipment servicing and distribution. The company’s UK headquarters are based in Yateley, Hampshire, with a dedicated sea trials centre in Plymouth.

Aberdeen Energy & Innovation Parks comprise 200,000 sq ft of multi-let office and industrial space for more than 80 companies and a workforce of nearly 2,000 employees in the Bridge of Don area of Aberdeen.

• Paving the way for major upgrade of Inverkeithing

Work has begun on the streetscape outside the Civic Centre, in Inverkeithing.

This will involve upgrading of the surfacing and introduction of new street furniture (benches and planters). Paving materials have been chosen to reflect the historic importance of the town which is an ancient Royal Burgh. 

The area outside the Civic Centre, which forms part of the setting for the historic Friary building, is being upgraded thanks to the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund 2019-20. This is the start as a much bigger project set to follow next year. 

These improvements are the precursor to the main phase of streetscape work under the Inverkeithing Heritage Regeneration project. That will see not just streetscape improvements to the High St and central conservation area but much more besides: A major building refurbishment (the category A-listed Town House); repair grants for owners of traditional buildings; and a full and exciting training and a comprehensive activity programme to involve local residents to become involved in a project that runs until 2024. The project’s main funders are the National Lottery Heritage Fund Scotland, Historic Environment Scotland and Fife Council and it is led by Fife Historic Buildings Trust. 

The rules for National Lottery and Historic Environment Scotland Heritage funding mean that its use is largely restricted to inside of the Conservation Area of the town centre. The streetscape in front of the Civic Centre lies just beyond this boundary. An allocation of up to £200,000 from the Scottish Government Fund has enabled this area to also benefit from uplift works.  

A total of £5.9 million has been allocated to Fife to date from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Fund, 2019-20.  

• Work set to start on transforming Banff Vinery into inspiring community facility

Work to bring the Vinery in Banff back into community use are about to start after Aberdeenshire Council appointed Ken Barbour Ltd as contractor for the build.

The project is being made possible thanks to funding from the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grant Fund (RCGF), the Town Centre Fund and Aberdeenshire Council.

A community consultation identified the preferred usage of the Grade B listed building in Airlie Gardens and, while the project was initially delayed as a result of the Covid pandemic, a full restoration and refurbishment of the bothy and glasshouse – known locally as the Orangery - into a community facility will soon be underway.

• Affordable Warmth programme in Glasgow saves 590,000 tonnes of carbon emissions

A report to Glasgow City Council has outlined how the Affordable Warmth programme in the city has delivered energy-efficiency improvements to homes that will result in a saving of almost 590,000 tonnes in carbon emissions.

This figure is equivalent to four million full baths, driving round the world 83 times, or absorbing the same amount of CO2 as 100 hectares of trees.

The Affordable Warmth programme sees the council working in partnership with owner-occupiers, private landlords and housing associations to deliver energy-efficiency measures in homes with funding coming from the Scottish Government’s Energy Efficient Programme: Area Based Schemes (EES:ABS), Energy Company Obligation funding from energy suppliers, and the owner-occupiers and private landlords. This is a voluntary programme with owners opting in to participate.

The programme delivers insulation measures - mostly external wall insulation - to bring lower energy bills and reduced carbon emissions.

Since 2013/14, the council has received over £37.5 million in grant funding from EES:ABS, the highest of any local authority in Scotland. During this time, there have been over 11,000 energy-efficiency measures to the value of £101m installed in 75 areas in Glasgow, delivering almost 590,000 tonnes of lifetime (of the energy-efficient product) carbon savings.

The current pandemic has impacted the delivery of the programme due to restrictions on the construction industry, and the council will work with partners to ensure the programme gets back on track after lockdown. Some of these measures include bringing forward projects that have slipped, planning future programmes, and smoothing access for owners in mixed ownership blocks.

• West Lothian outlines £29m additional needs schools investment

Over £29 million is being spent by West Lothian Council on schools supporting pupils with additional support needs.

The major investment will see brand new state-of-the-art schools for Beatlie and Cedarbank in Livingston, with both Ogilvie Campus in Livingston and Pinewood undergoing significant renovation and expansion.

West Lothian already has one of the best school estates in the country, thanks to substantial pro-active investment by the council in recent years. This funding will ensure that West Lothian schools for pupils with additional support needs (ASN) provide the best possible learning and care environment for local pupils in the future.

Plans are continuing to progress towards delivering a £13.5m new build school to replace Beatlie School Campus in Livingston, which provides specialist education for pupils aged 3 to 18 with severe and complex medical needs.

The proposed new purpose-built facility will be a centre of excellence for children and young people, providing cutting-edge educational facilities alongside partner health and wraparound support for children and families.

Construction work started earlier this month on a £7m state-of-the-art replacement for Cedarbank School in Livingston. This significant new stand-alone facility will bring up to 130 Cedarbank pupils from S1 to S6 together under one roof when it opens in 2022, within the campus of The James Young High School in Livingston.

Plans are also in motion to deliver a £5.8m redevelopment of Pinewood School in Blackburn. Site works due to commence next month include, the demolition of the original block, construction of a new extension comprising a games hall, dining, office accommodation and additional classrooms, along with parking and access improvements, with plans for this to open in 2022.

Ogilvie School Campus is currently undergoing a £3.3m extension and refurbishment, which is due for completion in March. This work includes three new classrooms, general purpose room and soft play room, as well as new outside play areas and access improvements.