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MacLeod's Construction Donate DVD Player to Ferffad Court

5th March 2010

Residents of Argyll Community Housing Association’s sheltered housing complex, Ferfadd Court, received a donation of a DVD player from MacLeod Construction Ltd after successfully completing a window contract within the complex.  The DVD player was presented by contract manager, Iain MacAskill to Margaret Currie, a resident of Ferfadd Court.

Iain MacAskill said “I noticed that the residents were selling books to raise money for a DVD player and thought that providing a DVD player for them would be a nice gesture to mark the end of the window contract”.

Mrs. Currie said “The contractors have built a good rapport with the tenants from the outset, have kept them well informed at all stages of the works and we are pleased with the end results”.  She explained that the DVD player will be used in the communal lounge for regular film nights for the residents.

Alastair Macgregor, Chief Executive of ACHA stated “I am delighted that MacLeod Construction Ltd who are working on the new windows and rendering have been able to donate this DVD player for our tenant’s leisure activities”.

The installation of new double glazing windows at Ferfadd Court will ensure that ACHA are another step closer to meeting the Scottish Housing Quality Standard’s key criteria for energy efficiency by 2015.


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Soroba Bridge to be Replaced

8 February 2010

Work is to start next week on replacing a railway footbridge in Oban.

The existing bridge, which links the Soroba Housing Estate with Drummore Road, is to be replaced by an £820,000 new structure.

The work, which was commissioned by Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA) as part of the Housing Stock Transfer Agreement in 2006, will start on site on February 15 and last approximately six weeks.

The new steel footbridge –which will include ramps to facilitate access – will open to the public by March 30.

There will be no public access to a footbridge for some four weeks of the work schedule. The alternative route for this period will be via McCaig Road.

A display of the plans will placed in the Community Centre in Soroba over the next few days, and an article describing the works will be published in the Soroba Siren newsletter, which is distributed to all households within the estate.

Working hours during the work, which is being carried out by Carillion, will generally be from 07.30 to 18.00.

Weekend working will be kept to a minimum. However, due to restrictions imposed by Network Rail, it will occasionally be necessary to employ a nightshift – either mid-week or at weekends.

Specific operations where night-time working will be required are the removal of the existing bridge and the erection of the new structure.

ACHA chief executive Alastair MacGregor said although access to all local estate roads would be maintained for the rest of the work, these two occasions will require the overnight closures of both Drummore and Soroba Roads.

“Our aim is obviously to minimise disturbance to the residents of Soroba throughout the duration of these works, and a great deal of work has already gone in to ensuring that this is the case,” he added.

“Modern, silenced equipment will be used whenever it can be, and access will be maintained as and when required where at all possible.

“Despite these efforts, there is unfortunately bound to be some disruption to local residents during the works.  But I hope they will bear with us in the knowledge that what they will have at the end of it is a modern, state of the art footbridge.”

The dates on which the overnight operations are provisionally scheduled are:

  • Saturday Feb 27 21.30hrs – Sunday Feb 28 17.40hrs (Existing Bridge Removal)
  • Saturday March 20 21.30hrs – Sunday March 21 17.40hrs (New Structure Erection)
  • Sunday March 21 21.30hrs – Monday March 22 07.45 hrs (New Structure Erection)

Argyll and Bute Council’s spokesperson for Transportation and Infrastructure, Councillor Duncan MacIntyre, said the community had waited a long time for the bridge to be replaced.

“I am delighted that this work is now being done, and I am sure the new structure will be an enormous improvement on the existing bridge,” he added.

Once completed, the ownership of the new bridge will pass to the Council.

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ACHA Gets "Fair" Rating from Regulator

The Scottish Housing Regulator has published its inspection report on Argyll Community Housing Association (ACHA), awarding it a 'Fair' rating overall.

The purpose of inspection is to provide an independent external assessment of the effectiveness of housing service delivery, and make recommendations to help improvement.

ACHA owns just over 5,000 houses and 3 gypsy/traveller sites located across the Argyll and Bute Council area.

Lesley Kerr, Acting Head of Inspection at the Scottish Housing Regulator, said: "Our inspectors found that ACHA has some strengths but also some areas where improvement is needed.

"ACHA is a relatively young organisation that was formed to receive houses transferred from Argyll and Bute Council. It faces a range of challenges and has worked well to improve most of its services over a relatively short period of time.

"The Association has made good progress on most of the commitments it made to its tenants and has strengths including estate management, access to its housing list, financial reporting and it is building good quality new houses. However, a number of its service improvements are at an early stage and it has been slow to progress the delivery of some promised stock investment works. ACHA is improving its business planning, performance management framework and SHQS plans but currently these have several weaknesses and risks.

"The Association also has gaps in its understanding of how satisfied its tenants are with its services as its first survey is not due to be completed until 2010."

Norman Beaton, Chairman of ACHA, said: "As a young organisation we are pleased with the progress we have made to date and look forward to building on the achievements we have already made."

Alastair MacGregor, Chief Executive of ACHA, said : "As an Association we welcome the Scottish Housing Regulator's recognition of the considerable progress the Association has made in delivering our stock transfer commitments to tenants in our first 3 years. We look forward to delivering on the challenges that lie ahead."

The inspection report can be found at www.scottishhousingregulator.gov.uk


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