Scottish Construction Today briefing: Friday 6 November 2026

Stories from the last 24 hours

• Highland Council plans Academy Street footway works in Inverness for early 2027

  The Highland Council has given notice of footway widening, resurfacing and traffic light upgrades on Academy Street between January and March 2027, two years after it ended a wider redesign of the street.

• Highland committee to consider 1 April 2027 start for two short-term let control areas

  Councillors will be asked on 12 November to publish a statutory notice designating Inverness City and Highland Rural control areas after Scottish Ministers approved the proposals on 26 October 2026.

• Highland Council secures £5.4m for home retrofit with ECO4 loss on agenda

  The Highland Council has secured about £5.4m of external funding for 2026/27 to retrofit council, owner-occupied and private rented homes, as the loss of ECO4 funding was put to its Climate Change Committee.

• Hub North Scotland creates place and development director post and promotes project director

  John Edwards is appointed to a newly created director role and Marcus Weurman is promoted to project director as the Scottish Futures Trust hubco says its operations continue to grow.

• CITB says Highlands energy pipeline could double regional demand for construction workers

  The training body's Local Skills Scotland 2026 report finds Scotland has enough construction capacity overall to 2030, but warns that a £100bn-plus Highlands and Islands pipeline would need a largely home-grown workforce.

• West of Scotland HA wins consent for 33 net zero social homes at Cowlairs

  West of Scotland Housing Association has secured planning permission for 33 social rent homes on a vacant site at Allander Street in north Glasgow, with CCG (Scotland) and MAST Architects on the delivery team.