Building Briefs - September 3rd

• Refurb provides new support service in Perth

Located in St Paul’s Square in the city centre, The Neuk is a collaborative mental health hub for Anchor House, the first of its kind in Scotland.

The building will house services led by Anchor House and provided by Andy’s Man Club, Lighthouse for Perth, Women’s Wellbeing Club and Perth City Centre Community Club.

The refurbishment creates an inviting and multi-functional space with office facilities, a mixture of small and large meeting and consultation spaces with two further fully furnished lounges providing more informal meeting areas. New kitchen and bathroom facilities along with a new boiler were also installed providing fresh, new essential facilities for the mental health hub. The hub also has four bedrooms to provide comfortable temporary accommodation for those in need during crisis situations.

Anchor House has captured the minds of many local organisations while creating the central Perth hub at The Neuk. Gleneagles Hotel assisted Caledonia Housing Association and Anchor House in the refurbishment donating furniture from the hotel to complete the redecoration of the building, continuing its relationship as a key sponsor of Anchor House.

• Phased approach approved for Hillside community project

The green light has been shown to the latest phases of a community development project at Hillside, Portlethen.

Aberdeenshire Council has been carefully considering options for the development of the grassed area adjacent to Hillside School which benefits from having developer obligation funds ring-fenced. These funds must be used by March 2021.

During initial discussions with the community, four distinct uses for the land were highlighted including the multi-use games area (a MUGA), community allotments, a full-size grass football pitch and community path routes.

Phase 1 of the programme saw the creation of the MUGA alongside the building of Hillside School which is now complete and proving popular in the community.

A cross-service project group led by the council’s area team comprising the council’s property, planning, landscape, and Live Life Aberdeenshire teams have now drawn up a phased approach which will help prepare the land for useable recreational space and wider community benefit.

Members of the council’s Kincardine and Mearns area committee agreed to proceed with the second phase of the project. This will involve enabling works to pave the way for around 24 community allotments and a school garden.

Councillors heard that the creation of base infrastructure on the site will enable subsequent phases to be more easily progressed. The work will include formation of an access road connection, hardstand car parking, ground levelling, drainage works and provision of a water supply.

The committee also agreed to proceed with the third phase of the project – the creation of community path routes and wildflower planting to form an attractive amenity area – as remaining funds permit. Bids will now be sought for the work.

Phases four and five will involve the development of the allotments themselves by a local user group and the creation of a full-size grass football pitch which will require substantial external funding if it is to proceed.

• Highland Council to hold consultation for rural housing developments

Members of the public will be invited to participate in a forthcoming consultation on an updated draft ‘Housing in the Countryside Supplementary Guidance (HICSG)’ which was approved for consultation by the Highland Council’s economy and infrastructure committee yesterday.

The upcoming consultation will provide an opportunity for people to comment on the planning policies that promote and direct future rural housing across Highland.

A user-friendly online document will be made available on the council’s website and the public are encouraged to review and make comments on the draft document when the consultation opens.

Due to current COVID-19 limitations, webinars or other web-based meetings and online guides will be used.

Full details of the consultation will be issued shortly. 

Feedback on the public consultation and a final updated version of the HICSG will be presented to a future economy and infrastructure committee for councillors’ approval, prior to undertaking the final adoption process.