Building Briefs – March 30th

The Scottish Prison Service (SPS) has unveiled redesigned plans for a proposed new £66 million jail in Inverness.

These images show how the prison complex will look if it is approved for a site beside the city’s biggest retail park.

The artist’s impressions will go on display at a public exhibition this afternoon.

SPS has proposed building a new Inverness prison on a site behind the Inverness Retail Park on the A96.

The site, which is also close to the Inverness Campus, had not previously been available to SPS. A site at Milton of Leys was considered last year.

The new HMP Highland would replace 112-year-old Inverness Prison, which is near Inverness city centre.

A planning application for the new prison will be submitted to Highland Council at a later date.

University of St Andrews celebrates decade of energy efficiency initiatives

Scotland’s first university is celebrating ten years of energy-saving initiatives; which have drastically reduced its carbon emissions and energy bills by millions of pounds.

Over the last decade, the University of St Andrews has implemented more than 150 individual energy reduction projects across its estate, expected to reduce the university’s carbon output by around 5,300 tonnes and to save an estimated £960,000 annually in energy bills.

The energy improvements, which were made possible with the help of an interest free loan from independent, government-funded organisation, Salix Finance, as part of its Revolving Green Fund, will help the University to achieve its plans to become the UK’s first carbon neutral university for energy use in buildings.

The recycling fund, along with funding from the University itself, has enabled the university to invest nearly £4 million into energy efficient technologies, including over 50 insulation installations, lighting upgrades, 27 boiler improvements and 10 building management systems (BMS), as well as motor controls and combined heat and power plant installations.

The University has also utilised £280,000 of funding toward energy efficiency projects within their award winning data centre, for free cooling, virtualisation and a high efficiency uninterruptable power supply.

More recently, the University has been using the fund to install LED lighting across several buildings. As well as significant financial and carbon savings, the lighting, heating and energy management technologies will have greater lifespans than the previous systems and will lead to an improvement in the learning environments for both staff and students.

In total, the upgrades are expected to generate approximately £12.3m worth of savings over the lifetime of the initiatives.

Edinburgh building site gets new lease of life

Edinburgh Napier students have teamed up with Bowmer & Kirkland to give a city centre building site a new lease of life.

The first year graphic design students have worked alongside the main contractor to produce 32 new creative hoarding panels for its construction site in the city’s Fountainbridge area.

The site, which will eventually be home to a new 228-room Hampton by Hilton hotel, has seen the new boards installed in an effort to shine a spotlight on the Fountainbridge area’s rich history with passers-by.

Working individually, each of the 30 Edinburgh Napier students have produced a number of designs that depict many of the key historical elements of the area.

Eye-catching interpretations of Sean Connery, who was born close to the development in Fountainbridge, the area’s rubber industry through the ages, the Fountainbridge community, the Union Canal, its links with Burke and Hare and the work of Bowmer & Kirkland, including its work in the community and importance the company places on site safety, have all been unveiled as part of the project.

As well as using the construction site as an information hub, the project has also allowed the students to gain valuable experience in using key graphic design software, alongside having their work displayed as part of a large-scale, public exhibition.

Gillespie Macandrew strengthens Property Litigation with two promotions

Scottish law firm Gillespie Macandrew LLP has reinforced its recent firm wide growth with the promotion of associates Colin Hamilton (Planning) and Isobell Reid (Construction) to partner, effective from 1 April 2017.

Isobell Reid joined the litigation team last year as an associate and is predominantly based in the firm’s Glasgow office. Isobell specialises in construction (both contentious and non-contentious), planning and contract and property disputes, although she maintains a broad commercial litigation practice.

Since joining the litigation team in 2008, Colin Hamilton has acted on a full spectrum of planning and environmental work, including real estate and commercial litigation. He became an associate in 2014.

The promotion of Reid and Hamilton brings the total number of partners within the firm to 22. This continues to build on the strengths of the firm in all types of property work ranging from rural business to renewable energy and property developments.

Barratt Developments in Scotland awarded 5 stars for customer satisfaction

Housebuilder Barratt Developments in Scotland, which includes both Barratt and David Wilson Homes, has been awarded a maximum 5 star rating in the new Home Builders Federation (HBF) customer satisfaction survey 2017.

The new nationwide survey lists the UK’s best housebuilders according to which have the highest customer recommendation scores. For Barratt to be rated as 5 star means that more than 90% of its customers say they would recommend the homes to a friend.

It also means that Barratt now becomes the only major national housebuilder to be accredited as a 5 star builder for eight years in a row.

Plans unveiled to expand Greenock Ocean Terminal

Plans have been revealed to expand Scotland’s deepest container terminal.

The Greenock Ocean Terminal is set to double the number of containers it handles over the next five years due to the opening of Peel Ports’ £400 million ‘sister’ terminal; Liverpool2.

Future plans include extending the quayside by 150 metres to support larger vessels coming into Greenock.

Work to start on A82 resurfacing scheme

Work is to begin on a £220,000 resurfacing project in Dumbarton.

Scotland TranServ will start repairing the A82’s road surface between Garshake Road and Greenhead Road from Friday, 07 April. Work is to be completed by Monday, 10 April.

The scheme will improve the southbound dual carriageway of the route and help to address existing issues of potholes and superficial cracks, while also improving skid resistance to enhance safety.

It is one of a number of road improvement schemes being scheduled by Scotland TranServ to deliver long-term benefits to commuters, local communities and businesses across the region.