- Client: Igloo Regeneration
- Role: Project Management & Employer’s Agent
- Value: £17m
- Programme: Due for Completion: February 2025
- Procurement: Design & Build, but negotiated.
- Location: Glasgow
Project Description
The Dundashill residential development, located on a reclaimed brownfield site on the north side of Glasgow, is a key part of a broader masterplan to rejuvenate the area. This project is a collaborative effort by a joint venture partnership that includes our Client Igloo Regeneration, Scottish Canals, Places for People, and Housing Growth Partnership. The development consists of 78 three-story residential properties, offering a mix of three and four-bedroom homes across seven terraces. The development site is thoughtfully designed with access roads, parking facilities, play spaces, and landscaped areas, including a distinctive sunken Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) garden.
The primary objective of this development is to create low-carbon homes that foster community interaction and support residents’ well-being. The design strategy to achieve these goals encompasses several action plan areas:
- Reducing the carbon footprint of homes: Emphasising sustainable construction and energy-efficient designs.
- Encouraging reduced car dependency and EV usage: Promoting alternative, eco-friendly transportation options.
- Facilitating flexible home working: Designing homes that accommodate home offices.
- Promoting walking, cycling, and outdoor exercise: Creating pedestrian-friendly pathways and recreational areas.
- Celebrating the existing environment and creating social spaces: Enhancing views and integrating communal areas for resident interaction.
- Encouraging community gatherings: Providing versatile spaces that can be activated by the community.
- Supporting community building with temporary uses at Dundashill: Engaging the wider community through interim projects led by other stakeholders.
- Advocating for non-corporate, bespoke urban design: Focusing on unique architectural features and a human-centered approach.
- Providing private outdoor spaces: Including roof terraces and garden studios to promote engagement and supervision.
- Connecting people with water and nature: Incorporating features like the sunken garden to enhance natural interactions.
Our Role / Scope
Doig+Smith have been appointed to provide Project Management and Employer’s Agent services on the project.
Collaborating closely with a multi-disciplinary design team, we facilitated the development of the design, ensuring it aligns with the project’s vision and goals. With valuable design input from our preferred contractor, we successfully negotiated project costs through a comprehensive value engineering exercise.
Our team regularly attends the site to monitor the progress of the works, provide input into quality control, manage the change control process, and report to the Client. We are committed to continuing these activities through to completion and final handover in early 2025, as well as assisting in securing the relevant accreditations for the development.
Challenges
The key challenges on the project so far have been:
- The Dundashill development presented several key challenges centered around ambitious design objectives and stringent accreditation benchmarks. A primary challenge was to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the homes, aligning with modern sustainability goals. Another critical objective was to design the development in a way that encourages reduced car dependency, promoting the switch to electric vehicles and supporting walking, cycling, and outdoor exercise. Enabling flexible working from home was essential, requiring innovative space utilisation within the residences.
- Creating a sense of community posed its own challenges; the design needed to include diverse spaces that celebrate the environment, offer social interaction opportunities, and foster community gatherings. Additionally, the project aimed to support community building through temporary uses at Dundashill led by other stakeholders. The architectural vision was to promote non-corporate, unique urban design, incorporating private outdoor spaces like roof terraces and garden studios that enhance views and supervision. Integrating natural elements, such as a sunken garden, to bring residents closer to water and nature was another intricate design requirement.
- Achieving these objectives while benchmarking against rigorous accreditations—including a 4-star Home Quality Mark, a full Building with Nature award, a LETI B Upfront carbon rating, Castle 10 Checkmate Warranty cover, a Gold Secured by Design Award, and A-rated EPCs—required meticulous planning, coordination, and innovation.
Successes
The key successes on the project so far are:
- The Dundashill development has achieved significant milestones, marked by the collaboration with an experienced local contractor whose off-site manufacturing capabilities have substantially shortened construction timescales and improved build quality.
- The phased approach to handover has proven successful, allowing for the sale and occupation of completed properties even as construction continues, thus providing early returns and fostering community growth from the outset.
- Doig & Smith effectively managed the design development in close collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team, ensuring that all project goals were met.
- Additionally, by incorporating design input from the preferred contractor and conducting a thorough value engineering exercise, project costs were successfully negotiated, ensuring financial efficiency without compromising on quality or design integrity.
Benefits to Client
- Experienced local Contractor with off site manufacturing capabilities promoting shorter construction timescales and improved build quality, and therefore an early return on our Client’s investment.
- Phased approach to handover allowing sale and occupation of completed properties as the development works progress.
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