Building Briefs – September 3rd

• CCG supports Ayrshire community with £38,000

The construction and manufacturing company is currently active on a number of affordable housing projects across East Ayrshire, with up to 400 homes set to be delivered in partnership with the local authority by 2021, as well as a series of projects in the Ayrshire region with registered social landlords Ayrshire Housing and Cunninghame Housing Association.

The former Bellfield Primary School site at Tinto Avenue in Kilmarnock is the largest development under construction as part of East Ayrshire Council and CCG’s strategic housing partnership with 67 affordable homes set to be completed this year.

It is also the site that has received one of the largest single contributions made by the contractor with £13,000 being donated to six community groups for various projects as well as the provision of 3 jobs and 3 trade apprenticeships.

At the 34-home David Dale Avenue project in Stewarton, a £7,000 community investment fund has been set up and a further two jobs, two trade apprenticeships and two work placements will also be delivered as a direct result of the works.

Peebles Street, Ayr, a project that was handed over to Ayrshire Housing this summer, also provided a total of two new jobs, five work placements and curriculum support in the form of site tours and visits to CCG’s offsite manufacturing facility – where the homes are created – for Ayrshire College lecturers and students.

• Glasgow to spend £3m on projects to regenerate town centres

Glasgow City Council has approved just over £3 million funding for a number of projects which promise to regenerate a number of town centres in the city.

These projects see a new community model of tackling food inequality, the renewal of historic buildings, and locally-led regeneration amongst the social and economic benefits that this funding will deliver.

This funding comes from the £50m Scottish Government Town Centre Fund, which aims to regenerate town centres across Scotland through capital expenditure projects designed to drive economic activity and create successful, inclusive and vibrant local town centres.

Glasgow’s share of this funding must be allocated during this financial year, and projects have been selected for the social and economic impact they will make on these town centres, making them more sustainable, and their capacity to be delivered within the timescales set down within the grant funding.

The Glasgow projects selected for funding come in three categories: Pantry; Built Heritage; and Small Grants Scheme.

The town centre funding (£710,000) for pantries in Castlemilk, Govanhill, Parkhead and Ruchazie - at Braes Shopping Centre, Govanhill Baths, Parkhead Public School, and a shop unit on Gartloch Road - will help tackle food insecurity. The pantries model - an alternative to foodbanks - targets local people on low incomes / recovering from a crisis to invite them onto a subscription/membership model (typically £2.50 per week) which makes good-quality, healthy and nutritious fresh, chilled or frozen food available to them at substantially cheaper rates than elsewhere. The pantries in these four areas will be delivered in a partnership between the council and local agencies, and this will help to bring local inclusive economic growth. It is expected that these pantries will drive higher footfall in their town centres.

Funding is also being made available for historic buildings in three local town centres: Elderpark Library (£550,000), Parkhead Library (£450,000) and the B Listed Tollcross Winter Gardens (£1,000,000). This funding will help these meetings reach their full potential in terms of benefiting their communities - the libraries are currently being looked at with a view to repurposing them to act both as libraries and an enhanced community function. Tollcross Winter Gardens is currently derelict, and with the adjacent ‘Millennium Building’ scheduled for demolition to allow the building of a new Early Years facility, this presents the opportunity to bring the Winter Gardens into active use as a building that could offer both co-location options for a range of organisations and a link between the local town centre, the new nursery, Tollcross Park, and Tollcross International Swimming Centre.

The remaining £300,000 funding goes towards a small grants scheme which will support locally-led initiatives aiming to renew town centres, with a focus on Business Improvement Districts - the Saracen Street BID in particular - and traders’ associations. Priority will be given to high SIMD (Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation) areas.

• Kinnairdy Bridge set to close due to safety concerns

An Aberdeenshire bridge is closing due to public safety concerns.

Following a structural assessment, Aberdeenshire Council’s engineers decided that Kinnairdy Bridge will close from Tuesday, September 10.

Philip McKay, the council’s head of roads, landscape and waste services, said: “We are fortunate to have many historic bridges in Aberdeenshire but lots of them need to be regularly maintained and repaired so they are safe for the public to use. Whilst I appreciate that closures can cause inconvenience, I hope the public understand that safety must come first.

“Vehicles that weigh more than three tons are not currently permitted to use the bridge due to a restriction that has been in force since March. The bridge has been monitored regularly due to concerns about its structure. However, it’s structure is deteriorating quicker than first thought which is why we have decided to close it.”

• Islay hotel to expand thanks to RBS funding

Royal Bank of Scotland has provided a £410,000 funding package to allow an Islay to expand its offering with additional rooms and a new bar and restaurant. 

Glenegedale House, situated between Bowmore and Port Ellen, will create an additional four bedrooms through time, while existing rooms will be upgraded, following a successful premises acquisition by business owners, Emma and Graeme Cark. 

Having previously rented Glenegedale House for almost seven years, the couple had the opportunity to purchase the building, which has given them the freedom to reinvest capital into the business.

First opening its doors in February 2013, the hotel has become a hit with tourists, welcoming more than 1500 guests every year. The additional rooms and renovation will enable the hotel to continue growing revenues by providing a unique and luxurious stay for visitors and plans to further develop their bar and restaurant will give the local Islay community further opportunity to enjoy the hotel.

Emma, who has long been a driving force for tourism on the island, is also supporting plans for Islay’s first food, drink and foraging festival – Taste Islay and Jura – in partnership with Argyll and Islay Cooperative and Islay and Jura Marketing Group. The festival will celebrate the produce from local producers and is the first of its kind in the region. It’s hoped that alongside the hotel, the festival will become a mainstay of the island, helping attract more visitors to Islay.

• Further £1.8m for walking and cycling facilities across Scotland

149 organisations comprised of community groups, employers and social housing providers will share £1.8 million in support to improve facilities for walking and cycling.

A total of 33 housing providers across Scotland have been funded £821,991 as part of the funding. Some of these associations include River Clyde Homes in Inverclyde, Sanctuary Housing in Aberdeenshire, Cearns in Stornoway, Hjaltland in Lerwick and Glasgow Housing Association. The total number of sites across the housing associations is 155. The funding is expected to benefit 62,119 residents and 628 staff. The total value, including match funding and in-kind contributions, is £1,146,013.

Elderpark Housing Association will receive £25,000 to install cycle parking for the 2,700 residents living across its properties, where currently there is no cycle parking.

Around 90,000 people within Scotland are expected to benefit from funding allocated to the Scottish Government’s active travel budget and Cycling Scotland’s Cycling friendly programme and the Social Housing Fund.

These three funding streams aim to support communities and workplaces through improved facilities and to encourage more people to choose walking and cycling as their preferred mode of sustainable transport for everyday journeys.

• First Minister visits new Glasgow Housing Association homes

First Minister Nicola Sturgeon visited Glasgow Housing Association’s (GHA) latest development of 152 affordable flats in Ibrox this week.

The new flats are a combination of one- and two-bedroom homes, and six have been adapted for wheelchair users.

A total of 116 of the flats are for social rent and 36 are for mid-market rent by GHA’s sister organisation Lowther Homes.

As MSP for Glasgow Southside, Ms Sturgeon attended to mark the completion of the £16.2 million project in Ibrox, part of her constituency. During her visit, she heard of how the new homes were giving the tenants a bright new future.

Tenant Lesley Frame, 65, who is in remission from cancer and suffers from arthritis, told Ms Sturgeon that her new home in Hinshelwood Drive was ‘life-changing’.

The Hinshelwood development was built for GHA by Cruden Building, in partnership with the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, and is part of the wider Transforming Communities: Glasgow (TC:G) regeneration of East Govan and Ibrox. The project is also the biggest completed new build development in Wheatley Group, GHA’s parent company.

A community benefit clause in all Wheatley Group’s new-build contracts requires contractors to provide jobs and training opportunities for people who live in Wheatley’s homes. Cruden Building delivered four new jobs, all of which went to tenants, and five new apprenticeships.

They have also donated £1,250 to Ibrox primary and nursery school for outdoor play equipment, and £3,750 to the charity Starter Packs to hire an additional van to make more deliveries to people facing hardship.