Go-ahead for McAlpine’s £43m Edinburgh concert hall job

Construction Services No Comments

Sir Robert McAlpine has got the planning green light to build Edinburgh’s first purpose-built music and performance venue for over 100 years.

The firm signed a pre-construction services contract earlier this year for the 1,000-seat auditorium concert hall to be built behind the Royal Bank of Scotland’s historic home on St Andrew Square.

Since then David Chipperfield Architects’ design for the Dunard Centre has been scaled-back, crucially with its planned height reduced after objections from the neighbouring St James Quarter.


The new flat top building design is clad in finned concrete panels

Construction is set to begin next year on the new home for the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and the Edinburgh International Festival.

The client project team includes Turner and Townsend, civil engineers Whitby Wood and M&E consultant RSP.

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Plans in for £60m Stoke goods yard quarter

Construction Blogs No Comments

Developer Capital & Centric has lodged plans to build a £60m urban quarter next to Stoke-on-Trent’s train station.

Plans for the Goods Yard, involve creating a mixed-use community for new homes, works spaces, shops, bars, cafes and a new public square at the Swift House site.

The project is advancing after receiving £16m from the Government’s Levelling Up Fund – one of three regeneration projects to benefit in Stoke-on-Trent up to the value of £56m.

Plans for the Goods Yard

The Goods Yard Living: Over 170 design-led flats for rent, with a mix of 1,2 and 3-bed homes. The new building is planned to feature private resident gardens, as well as resident facilities such as a café or bike repair shop, alongside other uses such as a gym or convenience store.

Signal Box: A café-bar in what is currently a derelict Network Rail signal box.Vaults Warehouse: Restoration of the stunning, locally-listed, brick vaulted, below ground warehouse to create a combined work space and leisure venue.Canalside Jetty: Opening up the water’s edge to the public and creating a potential mooring point for visiting canal boats or a water taxi.The Pavilion: A contemporary building with an industrial feel that will provide 5,000sq.ft. of floor area for workspace and/or leisure uses.

The Goods Yard Square: A bustling public square at the heart of the siteHotel: A 150-bed hotel (to be delivered as part of Phase 2)

Tim Heatley, co-founder of Capital & Centric, said:“We’ve been floored with the reaction from Stoke-on-Trent and the positivity shown for the Goods Yard. We’ve designed every inch of the site to create a genuine community, with design-led new homes surrounded by new public spaces, shops, work spaces, bars and cafes.”

Capital & Centric are working in partnership with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to bring forward the landmark project.

Cllr Abi Brown, leader of the city council, said:“Being successful with not one, not two but three bids to the Levelling Up Fund was a fantastic result for our city, and a real vote of confidence in the direction we are moving. The funding will turbo charge our regeneration plans and provide new jobs, homes and investment into our local economy.

“Obviously the Goods Yard was the focus of one of our successful Levelling Up Fund bids and it’s exciting that Capital & Centric have kept the momentum going by submitting their planning application.

“This is a HS2 connected site with a massive amount of potential, and one we have been pushing forward as a fantastic development opportunity to the market for the last four years.”

Project data


Landowner Stoke-on-Trent City Council
Development Partner Capital & Centric
Architect Glenn Howells Architects
Main contractor Bowmer + Kirkland
Landscape architect Re-form Landscape Architecture
Structural engineer Civic Engineers
M&E consultant JHP

 

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Miller Homes fined £200,000 for polluting dyke

Construction Management No Comments

Miller Homes has been fined £200,000 after polluting a Huddersfield watercourse for more than 1km.

The house builder appeared at Leeds Magistrates’ Court this week where it pleaded guilty to polluting a tributary of Grimescar Dyke with silt at Lindley Park on 8 February 2018.

It was fined £200,000, ordered to pay costs of more than £8,500 and a victim surcharge of £170.

The court heard that Miller Homes Limited purchased the land for a residential housing development in 2012. The site includes a series of tanks and lagoons for flood prevention measures.

Following reports of discolouration of Grimescar Dyke on 8 February 2018, an Environment Agency investigation traced the source of the silt pollution to an underground tank on the Miller Homes site, which is part of the development’s flood prevention measures.

Miller Homes said they had the site drainage infrastructure cleared by a contractor and this activity could have potentially impacted on the discharge from the tank.

The silt discharge impacted Grimescar Dyke for at least 1.2km. Silt pollution is hazardous to fish, blocking their gills and damaging breeding grounds. It can also damage the habitats that aquatic insects, vital food for a number of species, depend on.

Andy Swettenham, Environment Management Team Leader for the Environment Agency, said: “Miller Homes Limited did not follow its own management procedures, put in place after a previous conviction.

“Their own procedures dictate that the site should have a site specific Environment Plan and associated Surface Water Management Plan. These plans did exist but were not sufficient to prevent the pollution.

“This case emphasises the need not only for companies to have a comprehensive water management and pollution prevention plan in place but also to ensure it is fully implemented and all activities on site are properly supervised and monitored.

“If a member of the public had not reported this to us then the impact of the pollution could have been far worse.”

Miller Homes Limited was previously fined £100,000 in 2016 for a similar offence in 2013 at the same site, after which it developed its companywide management procedures.

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