Building Briefs – October 27th

Internationally renowned sculptor Andy Scott has brought his world-class artwork to Aberdeen, in the shape of a major new project at the prestigious £107 million Marischal Square development in the city centre.

Development partners Muse Developments and Aviva Investors commissioned a stunning leopard centerpiece for the city centre regeneration project, inspired by symbols on Aberdeen City Council’s historic coat of arms.

Property consultant CBRE, alongside joint agent Ryden, act for Muse Developments on the Marischal Square project.

Andy Scott, a graduate of Glasgow School of Art, works internationally from his studio workshop where he creates prominent public artworks for private, corporate and civic clients. His prodigious output now numbers in excess of eighty projects across the UK and internationally, but this will be the first time he has delivered an artwork of this scale in the Granite City.

The new work will form a key element of the open to the public sections of the development and will be on display in the enclosed atrium space of 1MSq from next week.

Scott’s most prominent project to date is the multi-award winning Kelpies, a stunning pair of 30-metre high, 300-ton horse heads, sited in Falkirk which are now regarded as the best-known public artworks in Scotland and have attracted over two million visitors since their inauguration.

Both the artist and developers believe the leopard has the potential to have a significant impact on the project and the city’s tourism economy.

A90 at Charleston to close for bridge demolition

The contractor for the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route/Balmedie to Tipperty (AWPR/B-T) project is expecting to demolish the ‘old’ bridge carrying the A956 over the A90 at Charleston next weekend subject to weather conditions.

To enable the bridge to be demolished safely, the A90 will be subject to a full closure from around 8pm on Friday 3 November 2017 until around 6am on Monday 6 November 2017.

Once the bridge is demolished using specialist plant including breakers, the contractor will remove the debris and open the A90 at the earliest opportunity.

Scottish commercial market buoyant – RICS

The commercial market remains buoyant in Scotland, with respondents expecting capital values to rise in each sector, according to the latest Commercial Market Survey from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS).

Across the country, occupier demand continued to rise in the industrial sector, but was weak in the retail market and declined in the office properties.

This trend was mirrored in rent expectations, which remained strong in industrial properties, but more subdued in the office and retail sectors. Elsewhere, results were stronger from the investment market than in the occupier sector, but investment enquires rose across the board.

Across the UK, occupier demand in the quarter held steady at the headline level, with 5 per cent more respondents seeing an increase as sentiment picks up.

Looking at individual sectors, demand has increased strongly for industrial space (net balance +28 per cent) and stabilised in the office sector, having fallen in Q2. Meanwhile, demand continued to fall for the second consecutive quarter in the retail sector.

In terms of valuations, across the UK as a whole, a strong majority of contributors (65 per cent) sense the market is fairly valued at present (unchanged from Q2).

British Council for Offices issues calls for entries for 2018 Scottish Awards

The British Council for Offices (BCO) in Scotland has launched its annual Scottish Awards and calls for entries to this prestigious programme.

Open to projects completed in Scotland between 1 January 2014 and 1 November 2017, the deadline for submissions is 24 November 2017.

Winners will be announced at an Awards lunch in Glasgow on 20 April 2018 and Scottish winners will then compete for a UK-wide award in London on 2 October 2018.

With an entry process that has been streamlined over recent years, a BCO Award is considered one of the most prestigious recognitions for the ‘best in class’ of the commercial property sector, providing public recognition for top quality design and functionality and a benchmark for excellence in workplaces. Scottish winners from last year include The Capitol (Aberdeen); Ineos’ HQ (Grangemouth); KPMG (Glasgow) and Network Rail (Edinburgh).

Entries for the BCO Scottish Awards must be submitted by 24 November 2017. Please visit www.bcoawards.co.uk to register and submit your entry.

Kids have a kick-about at new £16m Balloch campus

School and nursery pupils got a first glimpse of their new £16 million Balloch education campus at a special preview event.

The campus is being built on the site of the former St Kessog’s Primary and will accommodate a new St Kessog’s co-located with Balloch Primary. An Additional Support Needs (ASN) unit and a new Balloch Early Learning and Childcare Centre (ELCC) will also be based at the site. Balloch Primary was created following a merger of Haldane and Jamestown Primaries, while Balloch ELCC is the new name for Jamestown ELCC.

With the new all-weather sports pitch now installed, two pupils from St Kessog’s Primary, two from Balloch Primary and two from the nursery, joined Councillors, Council Officers and representatives from the project’s main contractor, Morgan Sindall, on site for a kick-about.

And with the building itself well on track for an early 2018 opening, there was also an opportunity to see inside the superb new facility.

The state-of-the-art new campus will educate almost 500 children and replace old schools with a modern, efficient building. Pedestrian and vehicle access will also be enhanced, with a new route into the site and drop-off points for cars and buses being created.

A96 dualling ‘Meet the team’ events set for Inverurie, Huntly and Blackburn

Three “Meet the team” events are being held in November in Inverurie, Huntly and Blackburn to let the public meet the people designing the east of Huntly to Aberdeen A96 dualling scheme.

Representatives from Transport Scotland’s A96 Dualling team and their design consultants Amey Arup will be available to answer questions on the essential design and assessment process to be followed during the development of this stretch of the route.

‪ Details of the Meet the team events:

New Scottish home registrations top 3,000 during third quarter

More than 3,000 new homes were registered in Scotland between July and September, a 50% increase compared with the same period last year, new figures have revealed.

The National House-Building Council (NHBC) said a total of 3,056 homes were registered by builders during Q3 this year, up from 2,033 during the third quarter of 2016.

On a UK-wide scale, a total of 37,936 houses were registered during the period, up 6% compared to last year and the highest third quarter total since the recession.

The private sector saw a 9% increase for the quarter to 29,083 (2016: 26,611) while 8,853 new homes were registered in the affordable sector, a 5% decrease compared with the same period last year (9,335).

Seven out of 12 UK regions experienced growth in registrations. In addition to Scotland, the East Midlands (3,575 +42%) and the North East (2,078 +34%) were among the regions with most notable growth.

Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband reaches more Highlands and Islands homes

More fibre broadband has gone live across the Highlands and Islands thanks to the £428 million Digital Scotland Superfast Broadband roll-out.

More than 800,000 premises across Scotland can now receive fibre broadband through the programme, with the technology going live in places like Lairg, Melvich, Birsay, Gairloch and Ollaberry for the first time. The new high-speed network has also been extended to more homes and businesses in many other communities.

Each week the programme, one of the largest broadband infrastructure projects in Europe, reaches more remote and rural areas, passing another 34,000 households and businesses across Scotland in the last six months.

Delivered through two projects – led by Highlands and Islands Enterprise in its area and the Scottish Government in the rest of Scotland – funding partners include the UK government through Broadband Delivery UK (BDUK), BT Group, local authorities and the EU via the European Regional Development Fund.