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CONSTRUCTION SCOTLAND

EXPERT PANELCOUNTRYS’ INDUSTRY STRIVESTO BUILD ON SUSTAINABILITY

SPECIAL REPORT ● MONDAY 8 OCTOBER 2007

CONSTRUCTION SCOTLAND

EXPERT PANELCOUNTRYS’ INDUSTRY STRIVESTO BUILD ON SUSTAINABILITY

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

2 SPECIAL REPORT Monday 8 October 2007 THE SCOTSMAN

First Scottish Zero-Carbon HousingEDINBURGH will host Scot-land’s first ever conference onzero-carbon housing on Mon-day, 15 October. The landmarkevent will address some of themajor issues faced by architects,developers and builders in meet-ing low-energy targets.

Delegates will set-out a five-point plan, for reducing net car-bon emissions from energy usedin new homes.

The conference, at the Hilton,Edinburgh Airport, is being or-ganised by Sustainable HomesScotland in conjunction withThe Prince’s Foundation, andwill tackle some of the most con-troversial and challenging issuesin this rapidly developing field.

The timing of the conferenceis particularly topical. In his lastBudget, the then ChancellorGordon Brown ruled that zero

carbon homes would be exemptfrom stamp duty.

And last year Ruth Kelly MP,then Secretary of State for Com-munities, issued an ambitioustarget for housebuilders and ar-chitects – to make all new hous-ing in the UK carbon-neutral by2016. As part of this proposal, thebuilding industry was chal-lenged to make a 25 per cent im-provement in energy/carbonperformance in new housing byas early as 2010.

The conference will beopened by Robin Harper, MSPand leader of the Scottish GreenPart y.

It will bring together some ofthe building and architecturalindustries’ leading lights to dis-

cuss how low-energy housingcan be achieved in Scotland.

Other speakers at the confer-ence include Ben Bolgar, fromThe Prince’s Foundation, whowill talk about zero-carbonbuilding methods and townplanning, and the Scottish Envi-ronmental Development Agen-cy’s Chris Morgan, who will in-troduce new plans forpromoting low-energy buildingin Scotland, based on lessonslearnt in Europe.

The conference will also be ad-dressed by Thomas Froehlich,from Sustainable Housing Scot-land, who will discuss the Ger-man passive housebuildingstandards, including details ofScotland’s first major passivehouse development.

Bookings can be made atwww.passive -house.co.uk

EDDIE JACKSON

Signals gogreen indrive forefficiencyBut the industry has a long way to go on theroad to a more sustainable sector inScotland, writes ANDREW COLLIER

Time to reflect on successes andchallenges ahead for industry

Michael Levack

SCOTLAND is – literally –becoming a more greenand pleasant land. Issuesof environmental protec-

tion have leapt to the forefront ofthe building agenda. Ambitioustargets set by government andconsumer demand are pushingthe construction industry intoputting sustainability at theheart of new project planning.

There is still quite a lot of workto be done in improving the sec-tor’s green credentials. At pre-sent, only a tiny proportion ofnew homes built north of theBorder qualify for zero-carbonstatus. Politicians want to see allnew houses in this category by2016. This inevitably means anawful lot of forward planning isgoing to have to take place.

Green buildings make a lot ofsense. Not only is their carbonoutput massively reduced, theyare also much more energy effi-cient than their traditionalequivalents, leading to lowerbills and less environmentaldamage. The construction in-dustry is also thinking about is-

sues such as “brick miles” – trans-porting raw materials to site asefficiently as possible and in-volving local providers – andother innovations which cutcosts and help the planet.

There is, however, a consider-able amount of preparatory andeducational work still to bedone. Tradesmen will have to de-velop new skills in sustainableconstruction, and environmen-tally friendly techniques andmaterials for use in building.

This is an area where Scotlandis taking a lead. Lauder College inDunfermline has teamed upwith the architects RMJM to cre-ate a unique workshop for con-struction students; ECOSpaceprovides courses featuring envi-ronmental best practice.

ECOSpace is particularly rele-vant to the green construction rev-olution, in that it practices what itpreaches. The building is con-structed from renewable sourcesand has energy systems designedto reduce consumption and envi-ronmental impact.

The centre aims to train stu-

dents sustainable building tech-niques. It also recognises the linkbetween traditional craft skillsand environmentally friendlyconstruction with it’s suite ofrestoration workshops whichtrain students in techniques tohelp restore lost skills.

RMJM has ensured that theconcept of sustainability is re-flected in the design of the build-ing, with a structural timberframe, timber wall cladding,“breathing wall” technology anda green roof system which rein-states displaced flora and fauna.Efforts have also been madewherever possible to sourcebuilding materials locally, tominimise those brick miles.

Ian Allison, assistant princi-pal of Lauder College, says the

SOME say we have never had itso good in the Scottishconstruction sector. Theindustry is benefiting fromlevels of public investment notwitnessed for a generation.Hopefully, with this period ofsustained buoyant activity willcome recognition, by both theScottish Government and theScottish people, thatconstruction is a key industryto the economic and socialwell-being of our country.

The magnitude of the sectormay surprise even those whowork within it.

So, during NationalConstruction Week (8 to 12October), let’s take some timeto reflect on the successes andcontribution our industrymakes. Equally, let us lookforward with optimism to thechallenges and significantopportunities ahead.

The environment is never

far from our minds these days.The Scottish constructionindustry fully recognises thatwe have a major contributionto make in improving ourpractices and safeguarding ourbeautiful planet for futuregenerations. Developments inwaste management, energyusage and efficiency, recyclingand sustainability are being

actively tackled with vigour,and bring with themsignificant opportunities, bothfor individuals and businesses.

That is why the constructionindustry is attractive to youngpeople seeking a rewardingcareer which contributes totheir built environment.

The Scottish Governmentappears to be moving fullsteam ahead and the FirstMinster believes he and hiscolleagues have already laid a“solid platform” for makingScotland a better country. Letus hope that all of our MSPsrecognise the majorcontribution that one of thecountry’s leading industries,construction, has to play in thefuture. We look forward withgreat optimism andenthu sia s m .● Michael Levack is chiefexecutive of the ScottishBuilding Federation

THE KEY STATISTICS:

10%construction sector’scontribution to Scotland’sgross domestic product

25 0,0 0 0number of people employedwithin the Scottishconstruction industry

4,0 0 0number of apprenticesrecruited in Scotlandeach year

BUILDING SCOTLAND’S FUTURE SINCE 1895www.scottish-building.co.uk Tel: 01324 555550

CONSTRUCTION SCOTLAND 3THE SCOTSMAN Monday 8 October 2007

within the sector about the im-portance of energy efficiencyand of sourcing materials local-ly, Allison says: “That’s also trueof the issue of recycling and re-ducing waste. Again it is drivenby legislation, and procurementcontracts are beginning to lookat the waste side of things.”

Industry watchers believe itmay be easier to introduce sus-tainability into commercial andindustrial construction projects,rather than the residential sec-tor. Allison says: “Price is a bigfactor when people are buyinghomes. Nevertheless, new-builds are going to have to be car-bon-neutral by 2016, so changeswill have to be made.”

Paul Rodgers, director of theEdinburgh office of RMJM, says

CO N T E N TS

NOT HEALTHY OR SAFEA shocking track recordneeds to be addressed

Pages 4-5

STELLAR SUCCESSESCaptains of industry display

role model leadershipPages 6-7

A P P R E N T I C ESRunaway training requiredto keep industry on track

Pages 8-9

BUILT HERITAGEUNESCO-protected sitesneed to live and breathe

Page 10

CAREERING AHEADAttracting more womenwill strengthen the sector

Pages 12-13

Co v e r Toby WilliamsThe official launch of the largestsolar panel system in Scotland at

Napier University’sMerchiston Campus

Editor Gabe Stewart, 0131-620 8938

Production Eric Campbell,Nicola d’Alpuget, Stuart Farquhar,

Tom Hunter, Scott McCartney,Andrew Rainey, Ben White

Advertising Ken Mowbray,0131-620 8984

So u r c i n gmaterials locallyand transportingthem in the mostefficient manner,is boosting thesector’s greencredentialsPicture: Craig Stephen

centre is helping prepare the in-dustry for the government’s 2016carbon targets. He says: “We’realso moving into the renewableenergy sector by training peoplein the installation of technology,such as ground-source heatpumps, wind turbines, biomass,and using hydrogen as a carrierfor storage of electricity.”

The centre trains some 300students a year in a variety oftrades, including brickwork,plumbing, tiling, joinery andfurniture making. Allison adds:“We see this as the way of thefuture, although there is a largejob to be done. A lot of the bigfirms are still unaware of thechanges in legislation – they willhave to catch up at some stage.”

There is a growing awareness

that many sustainability issuesshould be addressed by good de-sign practice.

“The construction industry isdoing as much as it can. Govern-ment is pushing the sector totake this seriously. Places likeEdinburgh are also leading theway – there’s a requirement inthe city now, built into the plan-ning process, that all major pro-jects have to source 20 per cent oftheir energy from renewables.”

The change, he says, meansthat architects and other con-struction professionals haveplenty of opportunities for in-novation. “The sustainability ofbuildings should be part of thecore evaluation criteria. Ofcourse it creates challenges –positive ones.”

“ Th eindustry isthinkingabout ‘brickmiles’ andinnovationsto cut costsand helpthe planet”

Cutting down on heat loss in housing can help developers meet low-energy targets

Conference to take place in capital


SBCC Update SeminarVenue: Scottish Police College, Tulliallan Castle, KincardineDate: 22 November 2007Time: 0920 - 1340

The SBCC 2005 integrated forms of contract are the established forms foruse in Scotland for all construction contracts.The first amendments have nowbeen published and SBCC online launched.

This year’s SBCC Update Seminar will bring you up to date with the latestdevelopments affecting Scots law and practice as our expert speakers takeyou through the latest JCT and SBCC provisions.

Key areas that will also be covered include:● Summary presentation of new and revised SBCC contracts.

● Review of CIArb code and CDM regulations

● Update on legal issues

● The new SBCC online service

Our experts will also be available for openforum question and answer sessionsthroughout the day.

This half day event, which is once againbeing administered by the EventsDepartment at RICS Scotland, is priced atonly £125 plus VAT and is a must foranyone working in the constructionindustry. More details will be available soon.In the meantime please contact the eventsdepartment on 0131 240 0895 or email [email protected] request a booking form.


Next April, the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate HomicideAct kicks in. CRAIG TURNBULL examines the implications

Brought to bookover lethal lapses

New rules make it easier to convict large companies of corporate killing Picture: Getty Images

AFTER many years ofconsultation anddebate, the CorporateManslaughter and

Corporate Homicide Bill finallybecame law this summer.

Companies whose grossnegligence leads to the death ofindividuals will now face prose-cution for corporate manslaugh-ter in England or in Scotland,corporate homicide.

The legislation actually ex-tends beyond employees. It willapply if a contractor, a visitor, amember of the public, or anyoneto whom an organisation owes aduty of care, is killed.

Until now, it has, in reality,only been possible to convictsmall companies of corporatekilling. The new legislation willmake it easier to convict medi-

um and large companies. Due tothe higher number of fatalitiesseen in the construction indus-try, it would not be a surprise if aconstruction company was firstto be prosecuted under thele g isla t ion .

The new act concentrates oncorporate responsibility and lia-bility, and is not concerned withincreasing the liability of indi-viduals, who can already be heldto account through existinghealth and safety legislation. It ishoped the effect of a possibleconviction, and resulting penal-ties, will be incentive enough forcompanies that presently paylittle or no regard to properstandards to provide theiremployees with safe workingenv i ron ment s .

If found guilty, penalties in-

clude unlimited fines, remedialorders and publicity orders. Aremedial order will require acompany to take steps to remedyany management failure that ledto death.

The court can impose an orderpublicising the fact that thecompany has been convicted ofthe offence, providing details,the amount of any fine imposedand the terms of any remedialorder made.

Although senior manage-ment cannot be prosecuted,their actions will form a majorpart of the prosecution’s case. Tosecure a conviction, the Crownwill be required to prove therewas gross breach of a relevantduty of care in the way the defen-dant firm’s activities were man-aged by its senior managers.

A jury will need to considerwhether the evidence shows thatthe company’s conduct fell farbelow that which could reason-ably have been expected of it.Factors that will be taken intoaccount include whether theorganisation failed to complywith any relevant health andsafety legislation and, if it did,how serious that failure was andhow much of a risk of death thefailure posed.

The jury may also consider the

extent to which the evidenceshows there were attitudes,policies, systems or acceptedpractices within the organisa-tion that were likely to haveencouraged, or tolerated, suchfa i l i ng s .

The government predicts thatthe number of investigationsthat will ultimately lead to pros-ecution in the courts will besmall, but the consequences of along investigation are likely tobe considerable.

The point, however, is that thegovernment believes the actsends out a powerful deterrentmessage to those organisationswhich do not take their healthand safety responsibilitiesseriously. The act is intended tobuild on existing health andsafety legislation and, as far asthe government is concerned,does not impose any newregulations on business.● Craig Turnbull is a partner atMacRoberts.



Industry ensuring all workers have therequired safety training could eradicatefatalities, writes MARTIN HANNAN

LAST year, eight peoplewere killed while at workin Scotland’s construc-tion industry. The death

toll shows no signs of abating -the latest victim was 18-year-oldGareth Ritson, an apprenticejoiner who died under a col-lapsed pallet of bricks on an Ayr-shire building site last month.

His death was a stark re-minder that after years of de-crease, the Scottish constructionindustry’s number of fatalitieshas recently surged upwards.

The figures are collated on anannual basis from April 1 toMarch 31, and the bad news isthat the rate of deaths has goneup even in the last few months.Since April 1 this year, there havebeen five fatalities within theScottish construction industry,which indicates the number ofdeaths in the current year couldrise into double figures.

“All of in construction realisethe environment and the associ-ated risks,” says Michael Levack,chief executive of the ScottishBuilding Federation. “But no-body expects that they or one of

Education screening is key to theprevention of building site deaths

“Joe Bloggs on sitewill happily climb upscaffolding withouta hard hat or withoutbeing attached tothe frame”

Role-playing and touchscreen technology can playan important part in healthand safety training

their work mates will not begoing home that evening.”

It should not be like this.Health and Safety at work legis-lation is more than 30 years oldand new construction, designand management regulationshave been introduced. But evenwith the force of law, the rulesare often flouted by cost-cuttingemployers and, it must be said,employees caught up in a machorisk-taking culture.

“We have a totally unaccept-able record in terms of heath andsafety,” says Levack. “It pains meto admit that I do not have an an-swer. Whatever we are doing,whatever processes wehave introduced, whatev-er training we offer, how-ever much we pontificateabout sophisticated riskmanagement tech-niques, we still havepeople being killed atwork. There is no excuseand we must increase oure f for t s .

“We must also serious-ly tackle the culture and

behaviour of some employersand workers.”

The Union of Construction,Allied Trades and Technicians,which represents many workersin the industry, could not agreemore. It points out that the UKdeath toll last year was 77, whichgeneral secretary Alan Ritchiecalls “gut wrenching”.

The Secretary of State forWork and Pensions, Peter Hain,recently convened a construc-tion forum specifically to ad-dress health and safety issues.

“Building is booming,” hesaid. “But I refuse to tolerate aparallel increase in constructiondeaths and injury. Loss of lifemust not be the price of ourfuture success.”

The key to improvement is ed-ucation. Training in health andsafety is mandatory for anyonejoining the industry, althoughthere are still individuals whopay scant attention to the regula-tions. Graeme Ogilvy, Scottishhead of the Construction Skillsorganisation, says: “We runhealth and safety courses and itis part of the qualifications forany new entrant into the indus-try, but how do you know thatsomeone has passed this test?

“On a major site, you can becertain they have, but I wouldsuggest the domestic market is aproblem. It is all very well usshouting that the industry hasgot its act together, but it is smallsites that are the problem.”

Ogilvy suggests that the in-surance industry could play apart by insisting that all its con-tractors have the recognisedcompetence card for which aworker needs to have passed ahealth and safety test.

These tests and general train-ing in health and safety are notarduous – the use of role-playingand touch screen technology hasrevolutionised the training pro-cess. But still the message fails toget through to some people.

“Is the industry generallysafer? Yes, but that’s at macrolevel,” says Kevin Taylor, head ofconstruction and special pro-

Health and Safety Executive,which inspects constructionsites. This after the HSE itself re-ported that one in three build-ing refurbishment sites is un-safe. Taylor wants to see the HSEwork more on prevention thaninquiring into problems afterthey have occurred.

“There is nothing wrong withinspectors coming after theevent,” says Taylor, “They are verygood at investigating, workingtheir way back through a chainto find the problems.

“Often, there are so manypeople involved in projects it isvery hard to find who to blame.

Some say the blameshould rest at the top ofan organisation, but havethe prosecutions so farmade a difference? No,because people fail totranslate that into whatshould they be doing dif-fe rent ly.”

Health and safety willremain at the top of theagenda. It is, after all, amatter of life and death.

jects for law firm Shepherd andWedderburn. “At individuallevel, however, Joe Bloggs on aconstruction site will happilyclimb up scaffolding without hishard hat or without being at-tached to the frame.”

Like many in the industry, Tay-lor is concerned at the recentlyannounced cut of up to 30 percent in the resources of the


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IN ANY industry, there arecaptains who lead by inspi-ration, but ask them whatthey feel their best quality is

and, invariably, they will cite anunder-mentioned attribute, theability to work hard.

The undisputed heavyweightchampion of the constructionindustry in Scotland is KeithMiller, group chief executive ofthe Miller Group. His achieve-ment in taking the loss-makingcompany to its current heights isunparalleled .

“When I took over, we werelosing money, and we’ve had 14years of uninterrupted profitgrowth ever since,” he says.

“We have done it throughhard work and by surroundingourselves with the best people.

We’ve made a few acquisitionson the housing business side,we’ve taken our commercialproperty business into Europeand expanded it into differentsegments of the industry, andinto investment and retail.

“We have grown the construc-tion business gradually into thelarger projects, but in the end, it’sall about our people.

“It’s very hard to single out anyone project because we areproud of them all, but what wehave done here at EdinburghPark [the site of Miller’s head of-fice] is something we are very,very proud of.”

Miller does not think there isany one single quality whichmakes the Scottish constructionindustry successful, but he is

adamant that working in Scot-land is no barrier to success –quite the opposite, in fact.

“While 70 per cent of ourwork is in England and Europe,having our base here in Scotlandgives us a sense of perspective onwhat is happening in the otherparts of the UK. Scotland is amore stable marketplace, gener-ally speaking, and we don’t seethe same peaks and troughs.”

Across the sector, there are anumber of industrialists whohave built up companies fromscratch and who are tacklingnew challenges. Stewart Milne’sgroup of companies, based in

Aberdeen, is expanding south ofthe Border, while Alan MacDon-ald at the Dawn Group is devel-oping Ayr Racecourse alongwith his business partner,Richard Johnstone.

There are new leaders emerg-ing, such as Alex Miller of XirconGroup, the country’s fastest-growing construction firm –zero to £50 million turnover in-side two years. At 52, Miller had

CASE STUDY ALAN MACDONALD

ONE of Scotland’s leadingconstruction magnates, AlanMacDonald, is in celebratorymood just now. Not only washe one of the few people atthe racecourse he part-ownsto bet on Advanced, the 20-1winner of the totesport AyrGold Cup, but his Dawn Grouphas just been awarded thecoveted title of Contractor ofthe Year by the ScottishProperty Executive.

It was 35 years ago thatMacDonald, 58, was one ofthe co-founders of thecompany which has growninto one of Scotland’s largestconstruction concerns.

“I started off as anapprentice quantitysurveyor at 17working for Leggat inBarrhead,” he said.“Five years afterthat I started up formyself. I had twopartners, one Ibought outafter a year

and the other I bought outfive years ago.”

Over the years he hasoverseen a period ofsustained growth as Dawnhas been transformed intoone of Scotland's mostsuccessful privately ownedconstruction and propertygroups with a turnover well inexcess of £100m.

MacDonald also acts asmanaging director of DawnDevelopments and outwithDawn, he is a director of theGorbals Initiative.

MacDonald came to publicprominence with the DawnGroup’s purchase, in 2003, ofAyr Racecourse with his

business partner RichardJohnston who runs theThorntoun Healthcaregroup of companies. Asracecourse chairman,MacDonald has presided

over investments rapidlyapproaching the £30m

mark with moreto come.

Magnate who constructeda reputation for success

CASE STUDY KEITH MILLER

RECOGNISED as Scotland’stop builder, Keith Miller,pictured, has presided over14 successive years ofgrowth as chief executive ofthe Miller Group He joined thefamily business in 1975 afterbeing educated at Loretto,and Heriot-Watt and Glasgowuniversities. A year later hewas appointed director withresponsibility for the group’scoal-mining activities. Tenyears later he becamemanaging director of MillerDevelopments before hispresent role.

Miller Group is now theUK’s largest privately-ownedconstruction business andis the UK’s sixth largesthousebuilder with anannual output of morethan 4,000 houses.

With such a recordof success it is nosurprise that Miller hasbeen showeredwith honours.In 2003, he

was made a Fellow of theChartered Institute ofBuilding and later that yearhe received the ScottishBusiness AchievementAward – this country’s mostcoveted business honour. In2004, Miller was inductedinto the EntrepreneurialExchange Hall of Fame.

Greater public recognitioncame in the Queen’s NewYear’s Honours List in 2005,when he was made a CBE forservices to industry andcharity, and he followed thatwith an honorary doctorateof engineering from NapierUniversity. Last year, Miller

was named Ernst & YoungScottish Entrepreneur ofthe Year.

The wheel has turnedfull circle for Miller,some 30 years after his

first directorship, he nowpresides over the Miller

Group’s investmentin coal mining

in Wales.

Honours and success for thehead of the family firm

Industry on to awinner as victorslead by exampleThe Scottish construction field is crowded with successful rolemodels who aren’t afraid of hard work, writes MARTIN HANNAN

Elliot Robertson, right, withdirector Brian Johnstone.Main, Ayr Racecourse, underdevelopment by Dawn Group

three decades of experience inthe industry before he set up Xir-con, and already it is being tout-ed as a company to watch.

The Robertson Group’sfounder, Bill Robertson is anoth-er Captain of the industry, andone who has seen his son enterthe field of play.

Elliot Robertson is 33, andruns five companies under theManorlane umbrella. Specialis-



CASE STUDY ALEX MILLER

Xircon sure to grow after £15m Botanic Garden projectONE Scottish constructioncompany very much in thecategory of ‘the one to watch’is Cumbernauld-based Xircon.

Managing director AlexMiller has years of experiencebut last year decided to set upwhat he calls a different kind ofconstruction firm.

Previously with Mowlem, heand some other colleaguesdecided to branch out on theirown after that company wastaken over by Carillion. “Wedecided to take the plunge andset up a company that would beenjoyable to work for,” saysMiller.

They certainly seem tohave succeeded in thataim as Xircon wasrecently named the bestbuilding contractor of itssize in the ContractJournal’s prestigiousBest Places to Workcompetition.

The highest profile projectXircon is undertaking is thenew state-of-the-artvisitor centre at the RoyalBotanic Garden inEdinburgh, which will be

completed at a total costof £15.7 million in

m i d -20 0 9.

“I started in theindustry when I was20, and I became agroup board directorat the age of 30”Elliot Robertson, Manorlane

ing in housebuilding, his grouphas just seen its turnover tripleto £13.67m after its second yearof trading.

It may have helped to have hisfather to inspire him, but Elliotwent his own way to success.

“I started in the industry whenI was 20 with the RobertsonGroup, working on a construc-tion site,” said Elliot. “After risingthrough the ranks I became a

group board director at the ageof 30, but missed the excitementof doing land deals in the hous-ing business, so I decided to startmy own company doing what Ilove most.”

Success has been immediatefor Robertson, and there hasnever really been a better time toget involved in the constructionindustry, especially as there aremany successful Scottish rolemodels whose example is obvi-ous. As Michael Levack, chief ex-ecutive of the Scottish BuildingFederation, says: “All of theseleaders are used to hard workand endeavour.

“Men like Stewart Milne andBill Robertson have workedtheir way up in this industry –Stewart was a plumber and Billwas a joiner – and they are cer-tainly not scared of putting in ahard shift.

“They also appreciate the ben-efits of teamwork from the out-set – they recognise that no per-son on a building site can achieveanything by themselves.”

So it seems a simple recipe:hard work, encouraging team-work and leading by example.Follow these rules and you, too,could be a Captain of the con-struction industry.


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It also provides advice on bestpractice in community engagement tolocal communities, developers, local

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Planning Aid for Scotland, 11a SouthCharlotte Street, Edinburgh EH2 4AS

0845 603 7602www.planningaidscotland.org.uk


work as and when funds havebeen available. Grant providersover the decades have includedthe Manpower Services Com-mission, the European RegionalDevelopment Fund and latterlythe Heritage Lottery Fund.

The funding gap has graduallyclosed over the years, and thetrust now runs the hotel and visi-tor centre, with the profitsploughed back into restorationwork .

Developing heritagewithout chippingoff the old blocks

UNESCO sites are not totally off limits, finds ANDREW COLLIER

As World Heritage sites, Edinburgh’s old and new town, Skara Brae, New Lanark and StKilda enjoy protection from over-development Pictures: Justin Spittle, Donald MacLeod, Toby Williams

“One problem is thatperiod features aresometimes strippedout by occupants”

PEOPLE have been build-ing in Scotland for morethan 5,000 years. The re-sult is one of the richest

and most diverse architecturallegacies in Europe – an endow-ment reflected in the siteschosen by UNESCO for WorldHeritage status.

There are four locations inScotland selected for their globalimportance in terms of con-struction and landscape. Theycould hardly be more different.Edinburgh’s old and new townsare grouped together into a sin-gle site, with literally hundredsof buildings in the heart of thecity chosen for their historicgrace, beauty and conformity.

Also on the list is New Lanark,a semi-rural community whichwas one of the birthplaces of theearly industrial revolution andwhere Robert Owen pioneeredhis revolutionary pre-socialistexperiments in education, workand living. It is gradually beingrestored into an active and vi-brant village.

The same claim could hardlybe made for the two remaining

sites: Neolithic Orkney, includ-ing ancient remains at MaesHowe, Skara Brae and Stenness;and St Kilda, an island in the At-lantic, managed by the NationalTrust for Scotland, which ishome to little except sheep, asmall Army contingent and130mph winds.

Clearly, these latter two loca-tions are not exactly consumedby construction issues. It is a dif-

does not need to: some 75 percent of properties are listedbuildings, and 600 of them havea category-A listing. Internal andexternal alterations, then, aresubject to a stringent approvalprocess, and may not be allowedat all.

Nearly all the buildings in theEdinburgh zone are in day-to-day use, either as offices orhomes. This means the way theyare maintained differs hugelyfrom ancient monuments ormuseum sites. Management ofthese historic buildings has toallow for practical usage.

David Hicks, communica-tions manager for EdinburghWorld Heritage, says this neednot be a problem. “Buildings thatdon’t have any use don’t have afuture. There is a huge amount ofinvestment coming into the cityand so there is a demand forspace. We have only five at-riskbuildings and three of thosehave emerging projects attachedto them.”

Historic buildings can beadapted for re-use, he says, butone issue is that period featureswithin the properties are some-times stripped out by their occu-pants. “That’s something youlegally can’t do because of thelisted building status, but it hap-pens. It’s a council responsibilityto deal with it and it treats it verys e r iou sly.”

Many of the properties, par-ticularly in the New Town, are re-verting to residential use, andtheir layout makes them idealfor use as small offices. “One ofthe things about this site is thatmany of the buildings are in pri-vate hands,” says Hicks. “We haveto inform owners about their re-sponsibilities and the upkeep ofthe buildings as well as the helpavailable to them.”

New Lanark faces many of thesame challenges. Although amuch smaller site than Edin-burgh, it has an equally diverserange of buildings, ranging fromresidential homes – both hous-ing association and private – to avisitor centre, hotel and othertourist attractions.

There are huge challengesin maintaining a site which isboth a living village and one ofScotland’s tourist hotspots.Restoration work at New Lanarkis incomplete: a block of housesstill has to be renovated and a re-taining wall needs urgent repair.

Development on the site hasevolved in a piecemeal waythrough the New Lanark Conser-vation Trust, which has existedsince 1974. It has had to carry out

“The interiors have to largelybe redone to meet current build-ing regulations, and we also tryto minimise intrusive externalimpact by making sure there areno obvious TV aerials or satellitedishes”, says Lorna Davidson,deputy director of the trust.

The aim, she adds, is to create areal and vibrant communitywhich at the same time retains aconnection with Robert Owen’sinnovative education policies.

“We want this to be a place wherepeople can come and learn aboutthat era.

“It’s not a fragile site and we’renot at risk from over-visiting. We want tourists. Theyparticipate in the attractionsand keep the place sustainable. Alot of people also forget thatwe’re near the Falls of Clyde, andpeople have been visiting heresince New Lanark was firstbuilt .”

ferent matter at New Lanark andin Edinburgh. Both sites areworks in progress, subject toprogrammes of constant regen-eration and improvement.

In Edinburgh, in particular,supervision of the buildingswithin the UNESCO site is exten-sive. Having World Heritage sta-tus is a strong badge of architec-tural and build quality, but itdoes not in itself tighten theplanning process. In a sense, it



Nailing the migrant worker myth

of British tradesmen, if any-thing, many migrant workers aretrained to a higher level thanBritish apprentices. It is alsopossible to vet qualificationsfrom Eastern Europe.

And whilst language skills areclearly a requirement, I have yetto encounter a tradesman fromoverseas who has been unable tocomprehend instructions.

Nevertheless, there is a legiti-mate concern about the clarity ofcommunication in relation to as-pects of health and safety at con-

administrative layer which, ofcourse, entails more costs.

It is vital, however, that over-seas workers are made fullyaware of the importance of ob-serving health and safety regula-tions if an industry alreadyprone to danger is not to becomeeven more hazardous.

The awareness that migrantscan have economic benefits forthe country coincides with thepublication of recent statisticsshowing that the numbers of mi-grant numbers from Eastern Eu-rope working in the UK are welldown so far this year, due in partto increased job opportunitiesand wages at home.

It is inevitable that many mi-grant workers will move on for avariety of reasons, such as the ap-pearance of skills gaps arisingwithin other countries willingto pay higher pay rates. This isprecisely why our constructionsector must continue to ensurethat we have sufficient opportu-nities for apprentices to learntheir trades within Scotland.

Fortunately, in recent yearsthere has been a broader recog-nition within Scotland of thevalue of modern apprentice-ships and a dawning realisationthat, while academic achieve-ments are important, learning atrade can provide many individ-uals with a full and rewardingcareer – whether at home orabroad .● Keith Jones is a senior partnerat chartered surveyors DM Hall

Far from damaging the economy, theinflux of workers from abroad is helpingScotland prosper, believes KEITH JONES

Many migrantworkers aretrained to ahigher levelthan Britishapprentices

“Tradesmen fromoverseas are helpingplug a skills shortagein construction”

THE influx of migranttradesmen from easternEurope into Scotland’sconstruction sector over

recent years has given rise to amyth that their willingness totake low-paid jobs has depressedwages and forced other trades-men out of jobs. A recent reportfrom the TUC, however, ex-plodes that myth by revealingthat, in fact, foreign workersmake a positive net economiccontribution, with their share oftax paid exceeding the cost ofsupplying public services.

Indeed, rather than forcingother tradesmen out of jobs, thereality is that tradesmen fromoverseas are helping plug a skillsshortage as the construction sec-tor in Scotland struggles to keeppace with a buoyant propertymarket .

That skills shortage is particu-larly pronounced amongplumbers and electricians, and itis hardly surprising that the po-tential earnings from plyingthese trades in Scotland is luringmany plumbers and electriciansfrom Poland and other easternEuropean countries where theyearn comparatively little.

Indeed, in some cases, a familyin Eastern Europe will be able tolive on the wage sent home by aneconomic migrant working as atradesman in Scotland.

However, for overseas trades-men to succeed in Scotland, it isvital that they are skilled to anequivalent level as their Britishcounterparts and, further, thatthey possess communicationskills sufficient to enable themto work without endangeringthemselves or others.

In direct contast to assump-tions in some quarters thattradesmen from overseas strug-gle to match the high standards

struction sites. After all,construction is a dangerous in-dustry and it is crucial that anyoverseas tradesmen working inScotland are not only adequatelyskilled, but can carry out theirtrade in a safe environmentwithout being hindered merelyby the fact that English is theirsecond language.

While many contractors havedealt effectively with the ques-tion of communicating healthand safety rules and regulationsby posting informationdocumentation on-site in a vari-ety of languages or byemploying a translator so thatevery tradesman understandsfully their own responsibilities,this does involve an additional



Improvements comingon in leaps and boundsTHE recent acquisition by

the Stewart Milne Group ofthe A&L King company has

seen the construction division ofthe company emerge with aturnover in excess of £100million. This will see thecompany instilled as a nationalplayer within the Scottish con-struction sector.

The managing director of thisdivision, Bill Imlach, is also se-nior vice president of the Scot-tish Building Federation. Thismakes him well placed to identi-fy and highlight an industrysnapshot of issues facing theScottish construction sector.

He says: “The building indus-try is one of the largest sources ofprivate investment in Scotland,with an annual GDP of some £10billion. While the industry is en-joying a prolonged period ofhigh activity, there are funda-mental core challenges and op-

portunities that face us all with-in the sector.”

The Scottish Building Federa-tion was established in 1895 andis the principal voice for employ-ers within the sector. It has ledthe way in keeping membersabreast of industry issues andaims to ensure a solid future forthem built on sure foundations.

Scotland’s expanding con-struction industry needs an esti-mated 6,830 new recruits a year.The housebuilding and con-struction industry in Scotlandhas a number of issues and chal-lenges to deal with if it is toprogress. Areas such as plan-ning, land supply and the envi-ronment are crucial but can bemet and dealt with.

Underpinning all those issuesis the need to convey the actuali-ties and opportunities the sectorcan offer, in terms of careers, par-ticularly for young people.

Imlach identifies the goodwork undertaken in recent yearsto ensure the construction in-dustry is attractive to schoolleavers and is passionate thatthis is maintained to aid recruit-ment. He says: “We need tocontinue to work hard to com-municate that ours is a sectorwith attractive opportunitiesfor graduates and apprentices.”

The federation’s chief execu-tive, Michael Levack, recentlyjoined climate change ministerStewart Stevenson MSP, as well asother international experts, tolook at ways of improving ener-gy efficiency and assist in mak-ing recommendations for pro-gressive changes to the ScottishBuilding Regulations.

Stevenson says: “Scotland al-ready leads the UK in the energystandards set by our buildingregulations. The expert panelhelps us ensure we are doing ev-

erything possible to raise stan-dards even further to save ener-gy and tackle climate change.”

The Scottish Government hasan agenda to make houses andbuildings more energy efficientand there are many who believethe environment presents the

single biggest challenge to thebuilding industry. The challengefacing the construction elementof the business is delivering abuild process to meet the zero-carbon challenge.

Imlach concludes: “We have tocontinually evolve new methods

to deliver homes and buildingsthat meet the government’s andconsumer demands and I believethe Scottish Building Federationhas a vital part to play to guaran-tee performance, professional-ism and quality in the Scottishbuilding sector.”

The Scottish Building Federation stresses that recruitment and the environment should be top of the agenda, says CHRIS PURDEY

The current health of the construction sector has put a spring in the step of its workers



Make sector young at heartFilling the skills gap in the industry meansattracting more women and getting youngapprentices fired up, says MARTIN HANNAN

“We’re notgetting thenumbers offemales intothe industrywe wouldlike”Graeme Ogilvy,ConstructionSkills Scotland

LATER this week in Birmingham,Debbie Greig, a 20-year-old fromCove near Aberdeen, will repre-sent Scotland in the UK Skill-

build competition. Now in its 26th year,Skillbuild is the national competitionto find Britain’s best young craftsper-son. If she beats 13 other finalists fromall over the country, Greig will go on torepresent the UK in the world final to beheld in Canada in 2009.

Debbie Greig is proof that if you aregood enough, gender is no bar to a ca-reer in the construction industry. An ap-prentice painter and decorator at JKMproperty services, she studies at Aber-deen College, which is recognised as aleading training institution for the con-struction industry.

“She’s a young woman who is a rolemodel, and we have more of them,” saysGraeme Ogilvy, director of Construc-tion Skills Scotland. “For instance, wehave construction ambassadors whopromote the industry to young people,and a lot of them are female.

“Recently we piloted the Skills ForWork competition with Angus Collegebecause the government wants us to domore of these contests to encourageyoungsters to develop skills. The Scot-tish secretary for education and lifelonglearning, Fiona Hyslop, is really keen onthe initiative. The competition was wonby a young woman, and it was not theusual prizes of book or record tokens –the runners-up got iPods and the win-ner got a Nintendo Wii, so we under-stand the modern prize currency.”

Ogilvy is a friendly and approachableadvocate for Construction Skills, theskills council for the industry, whichemploys staff who work on equal op-portunities and diversity. He is wellaware that the construction industry isseen as a male preserve, and outlinesseveral initiatives that are being takento ensure equal of opportunities foranyone wanting to join the industry.

“The Equal Opportunities Commis-sion thinks we are trying well, but we arenot getting the numbers of females intothe industry we would like,” he admits.

“We are working with the universities,led by Napier in Edinburgh, to look atgender issues with regard to say, womengraduating in architecture but not com-ing into the industry – we don’t knowwhy that’s happened so we want to findout why. We are not ignoring the issue,we are trying to be proactive in theseare a s .”

The Union of Construction AlliedTrades and Technicians feels that gov-ernment and the sector could do moreto get women into the various tradesand professions, but points out that theproblem is one of a general shortage ofskilled staff and a lack of recruits.

“The industry isn’t doing enough toget young people involved,” says aUCATT spokesman. “Apprenticeschemes are being cut. This year acrossthe UK, 50,000 young people appliedfor apprenticeships and there were only7,000 places available.

“The situation is better in Scotlandwhere there is a better history of directemployment. There the ratio is sevenapprentices for every 100 workers. InLondon and the South-East the ratio is0.9 for every 100.

“The lack of training for 20 yearsmeans that there is a skills crisis and thatis only currently covered by migrantlab ou r.”

That’s meant a reversal of Scotland’susual emigration patterns as peoplefrom the Commonwealth flock here.Darren Montagu, director of Hays Con-struction & Property, which recruits forthe construction industry across theUK, says: “Australians, New Zealandersand South Africans are attracted to theculture and lifestyle, particularly to thelarge, well-known cities of Edinburghand Glasgow, which is supporting sucha booming industry in a time of skillsshortage s.”

Using workers from Eastern Europein particular can cause language andculture problems, though all sides agreeon the high skills and good work ethicof many of the incomers.

“There have been problems with theinflux of foreign workers and the abilityof people to convey health and safety onsites,” says Kevin Taylor, head of con-struction and special projects at legalfirm Shepherd and Wedderburn. “Inter-estingly, the industry is taking stepsthere. Contractors sourcing gangs ofworkers would have allowed a lot of dif-ferent language speakers, but now someof the main contracts are saying theywill get gangs who are all Poles or all Ro-manians, rather than try to manage dis-parate languages.”

UCATT describes this use of migrantworkers as “a short-term solution,” andGraeme Ogilvy feels the best way for-ward is to train Scottish youth for jobs inthe industry.

“Our task is to get the skills level up

and get enough people training to meetthe industry’s demand,” said Ogilvy.“We would also suggest to governmentto flag up what future demand is goingto be early enough to train them.”

It stands to reason that while it’s aboom time for those already in the in-dustry, Britain’s chronic skill shortagesmean there are problems of a differentkind facing employers. The DawnGroup’s chairman, Alan MacDonald,sums it up: “It’s pretty bad from thepoint of view that it’s right across yourstaff. There are headhunters every-where at the moment trying to poachyour people so you have to make sureyou have them all tied in properly.

“There are good career opportunitiesfor many people, but the staff shortagegoes all the way down the line to joinersand bricklayers, and it is going to getworse if, for instance, Glasgow gets theCommonwealth Games.

“The level of pay to attract staff hasalso moved up. We are having to pay in-creases above the inflation rate just tokeep our people.”

Some of the pay rates available havegrown spectacularly. In some places ajoiner or bricklayer can look to earn aminimum of £20 per hour, while fore-men can easily take home more than£40,000 per year with overtime.

Darren Montagu thinks Scotland’s ac-knowledged quality of life is a big attrac-tion: “Salaries in Scotland are highlycompetitive and relocating to cities inScotland can mean an excellent stan-dard of living whilst maintaining a highsalary package. Although the salariesaren’t always matched in some of themore rural areas, this has to be weighedup against the high quality and lowercost of living.

“Employers in Scotland have reactedto the increased demand for staff by fo-

cusing on methods to improve staff re-tention rates, such as providing excel-lent working conditions, increasingsalaries and offering greater career de-velopment opportunities.”

The demand for skilled people isright now, says Montagu: “Currently, re-quirements for semi-skilled operativesare particularly high and there are nu-merous opportunities for qualifiedtrade smen.

“There is also a need for good com-mercial staff, such as project managers,quantity surveyors and estimators. En-gineers will also find no shortage of op-portunities over the coming years. Inparticular, engineers with experiencein traffic and transportation will behighly sought after to develop the sup-porting infrastructure. Graduates arealso in high demand as employers re-alise that investment is key to building asustainable workforce for the future.”

Co n s t r u c t i o nneeds moreyoung bloodPicture: CraigSt e p h e n



Things stilllooking upfor industryAT THE start of National Con-

struction Week, the unani-mous opinion that there islittle to cloud the horizon

other than important issues such asplanning problems and a shortage ofskilled workers (see previous page).

Scotland’s construction industry em-ploys 250,000 people and contributes£10 billion to Scotland’s GDP – 10 per centof the total. Prosperity in the sector isgood for the country as a whole.

“The construction industry is in goodhealth at the moment,” says NormanFiddes, chairman of the Scottish Build-ing Contract Committee, the organisa-tion that promotes standard contractsacross the industry. As chairman, he iswell placed to view the scene. “It is a busysector at the moment and I think con-tractors are picking and choosing whatwork they do because there is such de-mand just now.”

The man who heads Scotland’s topprivately-owned construction com-pany, Keith Miller of the Miller Group,agrees. “The construction industry isbuoyant at the moment, it’s busy allround. We at Miller have a constructionorder boom worth £650 million at thehalf-year stage with an average contractvalue of £17m, so it is doing a lot of quitebig work.

“Housebuilding is our largest businessand it is doing well, and construction isalso a big part and doing well, too. We areexperiencing a continued buoyant mar-ket place, not witnessed for a generation,”says Michael Levack, chief executive ofthe Scottish Building Federation. “Careerprospects for people in the industry orentering it are second to none.”

Darren Montagu, director of recruit-ment specialists Hays Construction &Property, says the latest employmenttrends show the health of the industry.

“The construction and property mar-ket in Scotland remains buoyant in boththe public and private sectors due to anumber of large-scale projects,” he says.“This high level of activity is expected tocontinue. Key projects currently takingplace include the 15-year EdinburghWaterfront development and theGlasgow Harbour project; both aremulti-purpose developments including

housing, shops and restaurants.“Lanarkshire’s £1.2bn Ravenscraig

project is expected to create around12,000 jobs and is a significant project inScotland, plus there is the £400m devel-opment of the old Edinburgh Royal In-firmary site, expected to be completedby 2012. There is also PFI work takingplace, which includes schools acrossMidlothian, Ayrshire, Dundee, Stirling,Lanarkshire and Glasgow.”

Alan MacDonald, chairman of theDawn Group, whose turnover hassoared past the £100m mark, is only atrifle concerned about the future.

“The industry is enjoying a bit of ahigh at the moment, but I think it will

point of view it is not a great thing tohave to spend so much time and moneyjust getting consents. Ten years for oneproject is just a joke, it’s terrible.”

Planning is a controversial issuewhich crops up in any conversationwith people in any sector of the indus-try. Leading architect Peter Miele who isEdinburgh-based group chief executiveof Lewis & Hickey architects, says: “Thereis a whole debate now about design andthe impact thereof. Some people see

that as a positive and some see it as a neg-ative. It is difficult to call.

“You just cannot second guess theplanners – we are professionals, and arefrustrated by it.”

Miele states that educating clients todeal with the various planning regimesand issues such as eco-friendliness willbe very important in the future.

Elliott Robertson, founder ofStirling-based company Manorlane,which specialises in housebuilding andhas declared a turnover of nearly £14min its second year, has already made al-lowance for customers’ demands ongreen matters.

“Buyers are becoming more choosy asthey start to focus on environmental is-sues, and awareness of these issues willbe even more prominent as new plan-ning guidance comes into force,” saysRobertson. “Again this is something wehave accounted for and we have sustain-ability targets in place which we will notonly meet, but will exceed.”

Across the industry there is a range of

initiatives to boost construction, ofwhich the newest is the Scottish Con-struction Centre, which emerged from areport to the Scottish Executive, as itthen was, recommending a ScottishConstruction Forum to champion thecause of the industry and a centre todeliver improvements on performancethough innovation and excellence.

With its head office at Glasgow Caledo-nian University but with branches inEdinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen, theScottish Construction Centre will not beanother talking shop – listening willcome first, according to Martin Squibbs,operations director for the new centre. Hesaid: “Our aim is to meet the needs of theScottish construction industry, and weare going to do that by listening to the in-dustry and by engaging with existing bestpractice clubs and industry forums.”

Like so many companies in the indus-try, the Scottish Construction Centre isriding the crest of a wave. It is a wavewhich looks like rolling on for sometime to come.

Despite a skills gap and age-old planning issues,the sector is buoyant, discovers MARTIN HANNAN

The Glasgow Harbour project, the Edinburgh Waterfront and the Ravenscraig project are all creating jobs

“It’s busy at the moment.Contractors are pickingand choosing what workthey do because there issuch demand just now.”begin to cool a bit next year,” says Mac-Donald, whose company has just beennamed Contractor of the Year by theScottish Property Executive. “But I amsure we can carry on being successful.”

New companies are springing up andtaking advantage of the boom. Scotland’sfastest-growing construction company,Cumbernauld-based Xircon, is on courseto turn over £50m, less than two yearsafter its foundation by a group of indus-try professionals led by Alex Miller.

“We decided to build the most prof-itable and enjoyable construction com-pany in the UK,” says Miller. “It looks likethe timing has been just right for us.”

Apart from an all-round shortage of askilled workforce across British indus-try, planning problems seem to be themain bugbear, as Keith Miller explains.

“We are proud to be back in the coal-mining business, having just openedthe largest coal mine in Britain nearMerthyr Tydfil in Wales,” he says. “It’ssomething we spent ten years gettingplanning consent for – it didn’t need totake so long, but that’s the way planningis at the moment.

“It is the same for everyone. Somepeople may say it creates a barrier toentry for people, and from the country’s

There’s a lot to smile about for those in the Scottish contruction industry Picture: Phil Wilkinson


SPECIAL REPORT 15THE SCOTSMAN Monday, 8 October 2007

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