EAST Kilbride-based Dougall Baillie Associates has revealed it is forging ahead with another ‘prime opportunity’ after planning consent was granted for a 151-home development in Glasgow’s east end.
The firm, which has been engaged on civil and structural engineering design on the site since 2019, revealed it expects the Stage 2 Building Warrant imminently, which will allow work to gather pace on site by early summer.
It has been instructed by Glasgow-based affordable housing developer Swan Group on the £17 million Newhall Street project, which will provide a mix of one and two-bedroom flats on a site next to the River Clyde Walkway.
The project will comprise three six-storey blocks facing onto the river and two four-storey buildings with street views.
Alan Ferns, director of structural engineering at DBA, said, “It really is a most attractive site. Residents will be able to reach the heart of Glasgow in under 10 minutes by bike, or half an hour on foot, with the advantage of travelling through the adjacent Glasgow Green. We have been closely involved both in the civil engineering – drainage, storm drains, roads, junctions and site-levelling – as well as in the structural engineering side of the project relating to the buildings themselves.
“The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014 were a catalyst for the regeneration of the area and this project, which is also close to Shawfield Stadium, will offer workers and families unrivalled, safe access to the city centre.”
Mr Ferns explained that the build was on a brownfield site, a former industrial facility which was demolished in the early 2000s, with the land left open. Challenges have been faced relating to land contamination and local former mine workings, as well as poor ground conditions.
He said, “Like much riverine land, it is largely composed of sand and silt and we are having to pile the site to a depth of 30 metres. Rather than driven piling, which is noisy and disruptive in urban areas, we are using helical displacement piling. This auger-bit process is quick, quiet and virtually vibration-free, and the lateral soil displacement means that the lack of spoil makes this method additionally suitable where contaminated soil is encountered.”
The Newhall Street site is the latest of a number of housebuilding operations for DBA. In the past year, it has been tasked with providing professional services for schemes with values of up to £200 million, adding nearly 2,000 new homes to the housing stock.
