Do you have any new projects, initiatives or news that you would like help promoting in 2025? If so, email: communications@north-ayrshire.gov.uk and we can shine a spotlight on the great work that your team is doing too…
Council colleagues and partner organisations in four of the six Localities have welcomed Council Leader Marie Burns and Chief Executive Craig Hatton.
Throughout October and November, Marie and Craig visited teams and projects in Kilwinning, Irvine, Garnock Valley and the North Coast. Further Locality visits are being planned for Arran and The Three Towns early in 2025.
The series of Locality Visits – organised by the Communications team – gives staff an opportunity to speak directly with Marie and Craig and flag up any issues or concerns they have.
Each visit also gives Marie and Craig time, in a relaxed setting, a chance to meet people face-to-face and hear first hand how working life is going.
All projects included in the visits are chosen because they have our communities and Council staff at the heart of them.
Kilwinning
Marie and Craig visited Abbey Croft Children’s Home to meet the team, which is currently supporting eight young people, along with HSCP Senior Manager Mae Henderson.
They also spent time at the Council’s transport hub and workshop, where Senior Manager Gordon Mitchell gave them a tour of the facilities and they had the chance to chat to mechanic Kevin Hopkirk.
The busy hub deals with matters including school transport, services and MOTs for all Council vehicles, fleet compliance and driver training.
The third stop in Kilwinning was at Kilwinning Abbey, where Community Development worker (ESOL) Calum Paul invited Marie and Craig to meet members of the New Scots community.
People from places including Syria and Ukraine spoke about the ESOL sessions, run by Connected Communities, they enjoy as they improve their English – expressing an interest in taking part in even more English classes and study.
Irvine
First up was the impressive new Montgomerie Park Primary School, which is eco-friendly and the first ‘passivhaus’ school we have built, costing more than £20 million to build.
Passivhaus is a term for buildings that are constructed to strict energy efficiency standards to help maintain a constant temperature and reduce the building’s carbon footprint.
Headteacher Fiona Smyth and Depute Headteacher Gillian McCallum took a back seat during the visit, proudly allowing P6 pupils Lochlan Bowie and Roma Hamill, both 10, to take the lead and give Marie and Craig a guided tour along with Education Infrastructure Manager Robin Knox. Let’s just say it was VERY entertaining!
An £8million housing development is being built in Burns Crescent, and Marie and Craig met Housing staff Claire McKee and Caroline Adams along with representatives from contractor Ashleigh (Scotland) Limited and Gary Telfer from Property Management and Investment (PMI).
A total of 29 new, much-needed homes – a mix of general needs houses, amenity bungalows and homes suitable for wheelchair users – are being built at the former Stanecastle School site at Girdle Toll.
The next stop in Irvine was the ongoing restoration of the King’s Arms Hotel property in High Street, which is being converted into six flats for social housing at a cost of around £2.9m, supported by £1.4m funding from the Scottish Government’s Affordable Housing Supply Programme and Vacant and Derelict Land Investment Programme.
Representatives of McLaughlin Construction welcomed Marie and Craig to the site – where the C-listed building dates back to the early 19th century – along with Caroline and Claire from Housing and senior architect Lynn Ryan from PMI.
The i3 Advanced Manufacturing Flexible Space Programme and Digital Process Manufacturing Centre (DPMC) were the final stop. The i3 facility is a major Ayrshire Growth Deal project that is seeing state-of-the-art facilities being developed in Irvine.
The multi-million pound development will provide flexible modern business space for local companies looking to expand and grow or for inward investment opportunities.
Next door at the DPMC specialist technology centre – inside the Booth Welsh manufacturing space – a partnership with the National Manufacturing Institute Scotland (NMIS) and social enterprise CPI is up and running. This is encouraging the adoption of digital technology for process industry manufacturers to help cut energy costs and achieve Net Zero by becoming more aware, predictive and productive.
At the flexible space, Marie and Craig met with Louise Kirk, Head of Service for Economic Development, Growth and Regeneration; Marnie Ritchie, Senior Manager for Growth and Investment; Alan Martin, PMI Team Manager; Senior Architect David Watts; Architectural Technician Brian Banks and Iain Smalls, contracts manager at Muir Construction.
Louise’s team explained that the £4million first phase of the flexible space development has seen an 1800sqm space being created that can be split into two, three or four smaller units for businesses and there is potential for expansion.
And at DPMC Marie and Craig spoke to NMIS project manager David Hernandez, NMIS business development manager John Harman and CPI business development director Neil Sheddan. Along with Louise and Marnie, they were given a demonstration of some of the technology that is available to support the manufacturing sector.
Garnock Valley
At the new Moorpark Primary School, Headteacher Elaine Mann, Depute Headteacher Andrew McDonnell and Senior Manager Clare McEvoy welcomed Marie and Craig. P7 pupils Jacob, Bethany, Leah and Mylie led a tour of the school, which cost more than £10million to build and has sustainability and the environment at the heart of its design.
At the Health and Social Care Partnership’s (HSCP) Anam Cara respite centre manager Clare Mills arranged tea with some service users and their families to explain the benefits of the facility and the positive impact it has on their lives.
Kerry Rennie, Team Manager in Older People’s Services, gave a tour of the centre, which has had an extensive refurbishment including a complete transformation of the main garden area, new flooring and external repairs.
The service received a ‘very good’ rating from the Care Inspectorate after an unannounced visit in February 2023
The former Garnock Academy site in School Road is currently being transformed into a £12.1million housing development with contractor Ashleigh (Scotland) Limited.
Fifty properties – a mix of general needs houses, amenity bungalows and homes suitable for wheelchair users are being built and tenants are expected to move in by the end of 2025.
Caroline Adams, Senior Architect Linda Martin and Architect Hugh Parker walked Marie and Craig round the site with Robert McKie, site manager from Ashleigh.
At Newhouse Drive, homes are being built as part of a £3million project – supported by £1m Scottish Government Grant – that is seeing Connect Modular creating 14 new affordable modular homes across four sites.
Tenants Ernie and James, who are delighted with their new home, welcomed Marie and Craig into their property along with Caroline and Housing Officer Linda Smith. Richard Reid was there to represent Connect Modular.
North Coast
This visit kicked off in Largs with a stop off at the Largs Campus kitchen to meet Sheila Dalton, Area Officer for Catering, Senior Catering Supervisor Isabel Davidson, Janice McCormick, Assistant Catering Supervisor and Catering Team Manager Elaine Stevenston.
The team make more than 1000 main meals at the production kitchen, and £125,000 was spent to upgrade the facilities and help accommodate the rollout of Universal Free School Meals.
Next on the agenda was a quick stop at Largs Seawall – on what was a VERY cold day – to meet Martin Miller, Team Leader in Engineering Services; Arthur Cowie, Senior Manager in Engineering Services and Stuart Laurence and Lorcan Hayes from contractor RJ McLeod.
The £4.6m seawall has been created along the promenade between Aubery Crescent and the existing RNLI slipway to offer protection and support against coastal erosion.
At Largs Food Hub, inside Largs Library, North Coast and Cumbrae Project Officer Deirdre Oakley introduced Marie and Craig to volunteers and those running the larder.
The larder is part of the Council’s Fairer Food network, which runs 16 larders to help give people who are struggling financially dignity when accessing food.
Things went from chilly to freezing with a final stop at Kirktonhall Glen football pitches in West Kilbride. West Kilbride Community Sports Club secured a 25-year lease of the sports facility in September 2023.
And a £6,750 CIF allocation has been used to bring on board a development consultant, who is now coordinating the next stage of the complex redevelopment.
The club has carried out works including upgrading the redundant tennis courts (which people were playing on despite in being around minus 2) and refurbished the dilapidated sports pavilion.
Kay Hall and Terry Gallanagh, from the Sports Club, explained their future plans to Marie and Craig along with community representatives David Gibson, Fiona Ferrie and George Cloughley.
