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13th May 2021

3b Construction secured £2.5m worth of contracts to build a new marine engineering workshop for the Stornoway Port Authority.

The project is part of a wider £12m investment in its Newton Basin and Goat Island development with 3b. A large subcontract package was secured by local company Breedon Hebrides. The project will provide two covered boat repair bays within the new engineering building, one of which will be available on a long-term lease, and the other on a short-term basis. It aims to let local businesses create skilled jobs and further utilise the port’s facilities. Both the commercial and marine leisure markets will be serviced by this building and the facilities at Goat Island.

The development will also see the construction of an external wash-down area for vessels using the new boat hoist. The existing slipway will continue to serve larger vessels unable to use the boat lift, while a new public slipway will accommodate vessels too small to use the boat lift.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise has provided £3.5m, while £2.75m comes from Comhairle nan Eilean Siar and Scottish Government, via the Regeneration Capital Grant Fund.

Construction works are now underway with completion of the wash-down expected late summer and the marine engineering building starting in the second quarter of 2022.

Stornoway Port Authority chief executive Alex MacLeod said: “Partnering with the correct contractors is critical to ensure the successful delivery of the Newton Basin/Goat Island development, so we are delighted to be working alongside 3b Construction and Breedon Hebrides – two vastly experienced businesses with a track record of success.”

Community Wealth Building Minister Tom Arthur added: “The ongoing programme of regeneration in Stornoway is seeing the revitalisation of the harbour and town centre with the establishment of a new commercial corridor, bringing about new opportunities for local business and employment in this important location in the Outer Hebrides.

“Investing in our communities will ensure every part of Scotland recovers from the pandemic, helping build an economy for everyone.”

Designers: Arch Henderson
Timescale: The marine engineering workshop is due for completion in 2022

7th December 2020

3b have now completed work on the new “Gather” Bistro at Laggan and have handed the project over well ahead of the proposed completion date. The bistro was the sister project to GG’s yard which was successfully delivered by 3b in 2017.

The new bistro is now open, and offers a place where friends and family can get together to enjoy good food, company and views. The 3b team developed the original client concepts to a finished detailed design, installed by our own tradespeople, to create a modern building with glass walls to the front which provides diners with a stunning sea view across the Solway coast, creating a great foodie experience – inviting both locals and visitors.

25th September 2020

3b have now completed work on the new Highland Cinema in Fort William and are happy to see the cinema open, showing films and serving refreshments, providing the community with somewhere to go in ‘dark evenings and rainy days’ as hoped for by owner, Angus McDonald. The Highland Cinema aims to bring the big screen experience back to Lochaber, providing a purpose built cinema, that combines cutting-edge technology with a beautiful traditional style highland building.

The 3b team were keen to be involved with the project, which involved a reinforced waterproof concrete basement dug in to the hillside in Cameron Square in the centre of Fort William High Street. 3b then fabricated and erected three steel portal frames on top of these concrete walls to house the 2 storey cinemas and restaurant. Using our in-house capabilities we were able to offer our client a great value proposition that was then delivered quickly.

29th July 2020

Wildland has a 200-year vision of conservation and ecological rehabilitation in the Scottish Highlands.

3b construction are honoured to be working alongside the Wildland team. Projects include the extensive restoration and large scale extension, including basements, of a listed hunting lodge into a state of the art hotel, new staff accommodation building, new recreation building, new office building, new meeting building, new commercial kitchen building, refurbishment and extension of existing cottages in to guest accommodation, new guest house with earthroom, new CHP biomass energy centre, new infrastructure works including a new access and bridge.

3b in partnership with the design team have developed a fully modular off-site solution to deliver these buildings in this remote part of the country. This has enabled us to manufacture the structural elements off site in precast concrete, structural steel and timber then craned in to final position. This has involved over 200 loads of precast concrete components being delivered to the project so far. We have manufactured over 40 loads of structural timber and steel that make up the frames, roof cassettes and walls of the buildings.

We’ll keep you updated on progress.

5th February 2020

The new bistro is due to open in the latter half of summer 2020. Adam James of New Space Architecture will work along-side 3b to create a modern building with glass walls to the front which will provide the diners with a stunning sea view across the Solway coast and create a great foodie experience – inviting both locals and visitors.

28th January 2020

3b have converted the existing listed buildings into new accommodation and constructed new buildings to provide a total of 21 holiday houses, 8 luxury flats and a leisure complex complete with swimming pool.

The project required a Biomass Energy Centre with site wide district heating pipework, a high specification fit out to all areas and an extensive landscaping package to include car parks, paths, play areas and soft landscaping.

28th October 2019

3b have started on site to construct a new factory, visitor centre, shop and café next to the Old Inverlochy Castle.

The Lochaber-based business has shops in Fort William, Spean Bridge, Oban and Pitlochry and expanded its operations further by opening a store in St Andrews earlier this year.

However, company director and co-owner Archie MacDonald, 28, said he wants the new Inverlochy centre to be ‘the cornerstone’ of the Highland Soap Company brand.

The objective is to create a visitor experience along the same lines as a distillery,’ he told the Lochaber Times. ‘So we’re going to have tours of the production areas so visitors can see into our workshops and view the process. We’re also going to have a garden with all the herbs that we grow so people can see what we make the products from. And, as part of the visitor experience, people can even try to make the soap themselves.’

‘We want the whole thing to be high end and attractive so the whole town can get behind it,’ he continued.

4th October 2019

The project consists of 24,000m2 of heavy duty concrete log yard extension, all RC works associated with the construction of a new log sorter including 3 storey control building along with a new dropsorter building, chip bay extension building, HV/LV switchroom buildings etc.

3rd October 2019

3b construction are proud to have delivered a New £6.1m state-of-the-art dementia unit in Kelso with the Official Opening by Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester taking place on Monday 30th September.

The initial project was to complete an 18-bed state of the art facility situated on land adjacent to Queen’s House carehome, which owns and operates the purpose-built unit. An additional 9-bed unit, Evanthea House was added and this was completed ready for occupation in Spring 2019.

Both Murray House and Evanthea House will be centres of excellence for people living with dementia in the Scottish Borders and will create 60 new jobs for Kelso and the surrounding community.

2nd October 2019

3b are making good progress onsite in Fort William.

3b’s teams have completed the reinforced concrete basement walls and steel frames for both cinemas and the café to the front of the complex. Roof and wall cladding is now well underway to all buildings to get us weathertight. Our in-house capabilities have enabled us to reduce the lead time to getting elements of work on site and maintain the fast programme we have set to deliver this project for our Client and the wider community of Fort William.