Dalfaber Level Crossing
Dalfaber Level Crossing was created as part of the Dalfaber Development in the early 1980s and is Scotland's last Automatic Open Railway Level-Crossing, but an upgrade was required to meet modern safety standards.
The upgrade work was commissioned by Joe and the team at Scotia Homes, The Highland Council and Strathspey Railway Company, and was required as a condition of the planning permission to build 75 new homes with access to the new development passing over the crossing.
The upgrade work to the crossing has been completed, with half barriers and new/upgraded footways for pedestrians. It also includes a new road surface, railway track, road traffic light signals, rail signals, control equipment building, power supply, signage, fencing and streetlighting.
Aviemore's Dalfaber Level Crossing to be upgraded - BBC News
First Next Generation Gold Award in the UK
As Projects Director, Joe led Scotia Homes to become the first housebuilder in the UK to achieve a NextGeneration Project Gold Award for sustainability for its Brechin West development.
NextGeneration Project is a project specific sustainability assessment designed homebuilders to use to assess the sustainability of an individual development. The Project generates a sustainability award if the pre-qualifying issues and core requirements are met along with 7 additional criteria, for which Brechin West received the highest recognition.
Scored across a range of criteria, including energy and carbon use, biodiversity net gain and resource use by the independent judges Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL), Scotia entered its Brechin West development to the new tier and were awarded a Gold Award at the design stage – becoming the first recipient in the UK!
Scotia are also the first and second developer to achieve the silver awards for their developments at Tarves and Oldmeldrum, Aberdeenshire.
Consortium Developer Lead
Joe assisted in delivering development parcels on a 650 unit residential development at Dubford, Bridge of Don built by Barratt Homes, CALA and Scotia Homes, having completed full remediation and serviced infrastructure, ready to plug and play.
Creating Urban Places in Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire
As construction director, Joe oversaw the successful delivery of the new urban style mixed use developments at Castleton (Ellon), Dubford (Bridge of Don) and Charleston (Cove), in line with Creating Places requirements.
Charleston, Cove was a consortium development with the homes being built by Stewart Milne, Persimmon and Scotia Homes. This development also comprised a mixed use apartment block with Sainsburys below, as well as various commercial units along the development High Street, enhancing the local area and delivery on the businesses commitment to place making.
Ellon By-Pass & Serviced Land Parcels
Client PM delivering the largest privately funded infrastructure project at the time, including serviced land parcels for 600 units for Barratts, Persimmons and Wimpey.
o Client – M Bruce & Partners.
o Developers – Barratt Homes, Persimmon Homes and Wimpey Homes.
Sustainability Plan and Strategic Objectives
Joe led the sustainability working group within Scotia and created a realistic and achievable 5 year plan for the company. This included working with Carbon Zero to get a better understanding of CO2 usage across all areas of the business. As well as coming up with strategies to reduce emissions, using a fabric first approach from design to construction as well as improving processes and policies to ensure best practice.
Reporting on the Sustainable Development Goals was important in communicating to stakeholders the company's commitment to contributing to the Global Goals; claiming accountability and responsibility to take the necessary actions; and measuring progress over time.
Workforce & Apprenticeship Success
The successful implementation of an Apprenticeship training programme, resulting in receiving the “CITB Managing Agency Apprentice Employer of the Year Scotland” Award and National runner-up 2013. Our apprentices have been recognised for over 16 Awards at local, regional and national levels, and achieving my target of 20% apprentices of total workforce.