KEEPING HILLINGTON PARK AT ITS BEST

On a busy 417 acre business park housing over 500 businesses, it might not be readily apparent how much work goes into maintaining the common areas and private infrastructure. Whether maintaining landscaped areas, litter-picking, repairing roads and drains, or carrying out security patrols, the teams from MAPP, Andron, Securigroup, Ipsum and Newmac are focused on delivering high-quality services in line with the set annual common estate charge budget of £1.2m that a majority of businesses contribute towards.

Transport Scotland completed the major bridge refurbishments around M8 J26 in May this year and Renfrewshire Council undertook resurfacing works on Hillington Road last month. The Estates team have also delivered a number of significant projects over the past year.

Security

• Six new Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras installed at key access points
• Fully operational network of 166 CCTV cameras, monitored remotely with full back-up recording
• 25 weekly vehicle patrols over nights and weekends

Landscaping and Cleaning

• A comprehensive 10-year Tree Management Plan completed, covering almost 900 trees across 31 species
• 45 redundant tree stumps removed, with the next phase of dead tree removal and replanting due to commence later this year
• 110,000 spring bulbs planted to provide seasonal colour across the estate
• Working with recycling partner Enva, almost 96% of waste collected from external litter bins in landlord-managed areas across the estate and retail centre is diverted from landfill through a zero waste to landfill programme

Roads and Drainage Infrastructure

• 319 tonnes of asphalt laid as part of a targeted road repair programme on the common estate highways
• 65 Category 3 & 4 critical repairs completed to the private drainage system
• 9.4 kilometres of mainline private drains inspected and cleared

Lisa McAlinden, Estate Manager said: “The positive feedback received from the majority of occupiers tells us that they are happy with the presentation and management of Hillington Park and they can see the benefit of improvements made in recent years. We are very aware that businesses are seeing significant cost increases in market rents, business rates, wages and other operating costs, so we need to prioritise value-for-money through the common estate charge while still delivering the essential services to the same standards. I am pleased to say that for the next service charge year, which starts in July, we are keeping the common estate charge budget at the same rate as last year.”