Independent consulting engineer Dougall Baillie Associates (DBA) has secured a significant contract at a major development site near Ayr which, in its initial phase, could provide 750 new homes for the fast-growing area.
DBA has been instructed by Allanvale Land Investments to provide key transportation, road and bridge engineering design services at Corton, in the Southeast Ayr strategic expansion site.
The site has been undeveloped for some years and has passed through different ownerships, but necessary consents are in place and the current developer now plans to be on site by summer this year.
As well as the residential element, the development, on the east side of the A77 near Ayr Hospital, will include retail, employment and local community uses and will help bring to fruition part of South Ayrshire Council’s local development plan.
It is the latest in a series of contract wins within residential developments which have seen DBA being asked by developers to provide professional services for schemes in Scotland with values of up to £200 million, adding over 2000 new homes to the housing stock.
Stuart Harrow, Transportation Director at DBA, said: “Corton is a transformative development, representing the first phase of a larger, long term Strategic Expansion Site which could eventually feature up to 2700 new homes.
“Major residential developers have expressed keen interest in being part of the project and the current developers have identified great potential in what is a vibrant area in which to live and work.”
DBA has prepared a major Transport Assessment for the development Masterplan, considering the sustainability and integration of transport solutions and roads infrastructure interventions on both the local and trunk networks.
It will work with Transport Scotland, Ayrshire Roads Alliance and the council on internal roads at the site and junction and capacity improvement as well as delivering a footbridge across the A77 to allow pedestrian access to the site.
DBA’s Managing Director Fergus Adams said that ongoing work inflows had increased turnover by over 15% to £3.5 million in the financial year to April and, subject to coronavirus effects, he was forecasting further growth to April 2021.
While residential homes work now comprises some 80% of the DBA portfolio, the firm has also marked up a number of significant scores in transport infrastructure, such as its involvement in the recently-opened £14.1 million M8/A8 interchange at Bishopton in Renfrewshire in consultation with Renfrewshire Council, SEPA, Transport Scotland and BAA.
The firm has also been concerned in projects in mega shopping centres such as Braehead and Silverburn in Glasgow and the Union Square development in Aberdeen.
