Building Briefs - October 14th

• New council houses completed in Glenrothes

The new development will have 78 houses when complete and consists of two, three and four-bedroom properties.

Built on the site of the old Tanshall Primary School, the new development provides a mixture of high-quality houses. All of the homes meet modern standards for energy-efficiency and pass Police Scotland’s Safe-by-Design mark.

• Housing association launches £6m energy efficiency programme for 633 Argyll homes

Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) has launched a £6 million energy efficiency programme for 633 homes in a funding partnership with Scottish and Southern Energy, the Scottish Government and Argyll and Bute Council.

This mixed tenure initiative will provide improvements to 262 ACHA homes and 371 owners.

The works were due to start in April but were delayed due to COVID-19 and finally started on August 24.

The project is programmed to run in two phases and is due for completion in March 2021. It takes in areas throughout Oban including Mossfield, Glencruitten, homes in the vicinity of Oban High School, Soroba, Soroba Road and Dunollie.

• Community windfarm grant will breathe life back into old school

One of the largest windfarm grants ever awarded in South Lanarkshire will bring renewed energy to Abington and Upper Clydesdale.

The £710,000 grant from the SSE SLC Clyde Wind Farm fund to Abington Community Development Group (ACDG) will be used for the conversion of Abington old school. The grant alongside funding from the SLC Renewable Energy Fund (REF) and the Scottish Government’s Regeneration Capital Grants Fund brings investment of £1.7million to the community.

Regeneration of the former Abington old school will see the creation of a rural enterprise and leisure campus, providing a much-needed facility for local businesses including fast broadband connectivity, bespoke leisure and gym facilities, green community space for formal and informal activities and socialising as well as smaller indoor spaces to increase the existing number of meeting places available in local village halls.

The project will bring new rural jobs which will include a development manager, administration staff and a horticulturist to manage a community garden offering health and wellbeing volunteering opportunities and programmes.

Led by ACDG, the project, which is guided and supported by South Lanarkshire Council’s Community and Enterprise Resources, set out an ambitious economic and community plan to promote activities and enhance the quality of life for local people.