News

Exciting times for Biodiversity enhancement at Caledonian Estate.

Our grassland field at Bargenny Hill has recently achieved SSSI status (Site of Special Scientific Interest) from NatureScot.

Bargenny Hill SSSI, just outside the village of Torrance, is an area of grassland supporting one of the largest and best examples of unimproved neutral grassland within West Central Scotland. This type of habitat has declined significantly in extent across Scotland since the 1990s, due to agricultural improvements such as cultivation and fertiliser spreading.

The grassland is an exceptional example of ‘lowland neutral grassland’; a kind of flower-rich meadow occurring on uncultivated land. The site supports an orchid-rich mix of plant species, including the threatened Greater Butterfly Orchid, Northern Marsh Orchid, and the common spotted orchid as well as a variety of other rare grassland species. Although the SSSI is designated solely for its lowland neutral grassland, it also includes small areas of fen meadow, wetland and scrub, and this habitat diversity in turn supports a wide variety of invertebrates.

The land is grazed for a short period during late summer or autumn, which allows the grassland to develop an unusually tall sward and enables the plants to flower and set seed freely before being grazed back in autumn. This maximises the site’s botanical diversity while also making it especially visually striking, as compared with more intensively grazed grasslands.

The team here at Caledonian are delighted to see this beautiful landscape being more widely recognised for the wider environmental benefits it offers and the fantastic work done by our graziers in continuing to protect and enhance this important grassland habitat.

Scottish Power. Derwent London’s Scottish solar park project revealed.

Derwent London building a 110-acre solar park outside Glasgow might seem like a curve ball, but the thinking behind it makes a huge amount of sense. Let us explain why.

When completed in 2025, our solar park at Lochfaulds will be one of the biggest in Scotland. Imagine 83 football pitches covered in 37,000 solar panels, if you can. And that equates to a considerable amount of green electricity – around 18.4 million kilowatt hours. That’s close to 50% of our managed London portfolio’s power consumption, which is the whole point of this exercise. By putting renewable energy into the national grid, we will off set our usage and reduce our operational carbon by approximately 30%. Based on the modelled performance of the panels, we expect the site to save the equivalent of 3,810 tonnes of CO2e a year. It also forms a substantial and important part of our net zero carbon journey, helping differentiate us from our competitors and adding to our brand.

Of course, you might wonder how ecologically friendly a solar park can be, and we have eco-positive plans for that too. We have already planted the land with native grasses and wildflowers, and a local sheep farmer will use the land beneath the panels to graze his flock. Plus, the panels are fixed to the ground with steel piles, which are minimally damaging, particularly in comparison to concrete foundations.

You also might ask why we own a site outside London, let alone north of the border. The story goes back to 2007 when we merged with London Merchant Securities. They held assets country-wide, and while most of that has been sold over the years, we retained 5,500 acres in Scotland. And the solar park isn’t the first environment-based project we’ve instigated there; we also embarked on a major tree-planting programme back in 2015, for which we received our first accredited carbon units in 2020 under the UK Woodland Carbon Code.

This renewable energy project is not a one-off for us. Our ambition is to generate enough to meet the consumption of our entire portfolio. And we’d love to do that by embracing winter weighted technologies such as wind or hydro to give us year-round production. Watch this (green) space.

Welcome to Sean and Eadidh!

Thursday 10th August the Scotland Team gathered at our local “The Stables Restaurant” for a Team lunch.

One of the reasons for the get together was to properly welcome our newest member of the Estate Team, Sean Higgins. Sean has been working with us since the end of May 23 and is a great fit as part of the team. He brings with him experience in joinery a great addition to our inhouse skills.

Also joining us were Richard Haggart our managing agent at Galbraith, introducing his new assistant Eadidh Monteith. Eadidh started with Galbraith in Stirling as a graduate rural surveyor in August. She completed her studies of Rural Business Management at Scotland’s Rural College in Edinburgh, obtaining a RICS accredited First Class Honours Degree. She will be our point of contact in September when Richard has time off to get married!

It’s always great to get everyone together socially and build on a wee bit Team spirit!

Open Farm Sunday at Caledonian Estate

On Sunday 11th June, Caledonian Estates hosted another Open Farm Sunday Event at Easter Cadder.

We think it’s fair to say this one was by far our biggest and best to date.

Attendance on the day was just short of 2,000 visitors engaging in all aspects of the event between 11am and 3pm.

Our friendly farmers provided an amazing display of tractors and machinery, and were on hand to answer questions ranging from the diet of a dairy cow to machinery for growing cereals, to whether the sheep are friendly! Our Estate Team put together displays on their work, and information boards on our Community Garden plans. Some of our farmers brought along some livestock …beautiful calves and lambs that children could pet and have photos taken with. And Auchinairn After School Club, who lease a woodland for their outdoor childrens nursery, put on a range of fabulous crafting activities for the children.

Food was provided by Hog Roast barbeque caterers, and music was on hand from another local community organisation we support, called Rookie Rockstars. Goody bags were given to the kids, with a treasure hunt challenge to keep them engaged and searching around the farm for clues.

Our local tree surgeons put on a display of oak cutting and tree climbing, and Glasgow Barnstormers, a group of local light aircraft enthusiasts who lease some land from us for their runway, had a flight simulator so everyone could have a go at flying a model aircraft – harder than it looks!

The most popular as always …the pony rides from The Glasgow Riding For the Disabled team, and some down time provided by the children’s sand pit. There was also an amazing Gun Dog display to put all our own pups to shame … None of this would be possible without much planning and prep. by our own team at Caledonian, our amazing team of farmers, and our managing agents, MAPP and Galbraith. Huge thanks to all of you for your efforts both in the run up and on the day.

We hope we’ve spread a bit more knowledge of what happens on the Estate, and encouraged the local community’s interest in our upcoming projects.

To everyone who visited, took part as a contributor, and supported us in any way on the day a huge THANK YOU!

The weather played its part too …..all in all ….a really successful, fun, and memorable day….

Caledonian Properties Ltd
Are Hosting Open Farm Sunday

Sunday 11th June - Start 11am till 3pm
Easter Cadder Farm Steading
(Next to The Stables restaurant)
Kirkintilloch Road
Glasgow
G66 1RJ

Entry is FREE….
Open Farm Sunday events are countrywide events held on the same day all over Great Britain.
The purpose of these events is to engage local communities and the general public to visit a participating farm. It provides an opportunity to find out about the story behind our food and how farming and the activities we operate on our rural Estate affect the everyday lives of those living in the area.

Each LEAF Open Farm Sunday event is unique. Activities range from machinery displays, tractor and trailer rides, through to demonstrations, an opportunity to engage with our new Community Garden, and meet the farm animals.

Our event at Easter Cadder will also include Pony Rides by the Glasgow Riding for The Disabled Organisation, gundog training demonstration, a picnic area and Hog Roast BBQ, children’s treasure trail, sandpit, live music and much more!

We hope as many of you as possible can join us on the day!

We’re now generating power in Scotland!

On 12th May 2023 Emtec commissioned our 104kW solar array at Easter Cadder. We are generating power on site, and since commissioning, we haven’t imported power during daylight hours, which is fantastic.

Whilst we have yet to complete construction of our permanent flagship Caledonian office at Easter Cadder, the whole Estate team are now based from the workshop at Easter Cadder, and so our electricity demand can be fairly sizeable. We have found that even in fairly dull weather, with the whole team working from the office and EV chargers in use, we are still generating more than we consume, so we’re continuing to export power to the grid during daylight hours.

Opposite is a screenshot of our generation, consumption and export from Easter Cadder and our new app!

(It’s limited to 80kWh export capacity into the grid, so today is pretty good, but looks like the sun had gone behind a cloud, so should do even better on a really sunny day)

Exciting Times in Glasgow this month.

Tuesday 18th April the Glasgow office team relocated to Easter Cadder Steading after approximately 20 years based in the old office at Cross Court.

Our new address is:
Caledonian Properties Ltd
Easter Cadder Steading
Kirkintilloch Road
Glasgow
G66 1RJ

Charlotte, Helen and Ruth will now be based in their purpose built Porta Cabin until the new office build is completed.

Conveniently next to the Forth & Clyde canal banks and The Stables Restaurant, we will be in more rural surroundings in the heart of the Estate. With the Estate maintenance team also based at Easter Cadder, the whole Caledonian team will now all be based in one central hub.

Looking forward to the summer months!

Glasgow Riding for the Disabled Association

Throughout 2022 Caledonian made charitable donations to various local fund-raising events, social enterprise groups, and charitable organisations. As a tenant of the Estate for some years now, a regular group we donate to is the Glasgow Riding for the Disabled Association (RDA).

Glasgow RDA provide Equine Therapy sessions of all natures, disabled riders have the chance to work towards their individual goals and they provide a place where they can achieve what others never thought was possible. It is a place where regular physical activity builds a solid foundation for managing the challenges of their life-long conditions.

It has been a struggle for groups picking up after the effects of Lockdown and COVID restrictions, and every volunteer involved with the RDA Glasgow Group has dedicated their time to restart individual and group classes. Disabled pupils from seven local schools are once again enjoying their horse-riding sessions and the wellbeing benefits that these sessions afford them.

The donation has helped the group introduce new weekend morning classes, meaning those children, who had been on a waiting list throughout lockdown, can begin to ride ponies for the very first time. The reward to the volunteers is seeing the enjoyment and achievement of each rider progress towards their individual goals. Last summer they were even able to hold their first dressage competition. Plans are in place to include non-ridden activities so that more disabled people living in Glasgow can enjoy a connection with horses.

New Caledonian Fleet

Exciting times at Caledonian this month, as we raise our profile in the community, with the newly “branded” Estate Fleet, now sporting our company logo.

The Estate fleet consists of a Toyota Hilux Invincible, a Vauxhall Pro-ace electric van and a Vauxhall Pro-ace City electric van.

We currently have 3 designated drivers hopefully soon to be 4 when our newest member of the team Cameron Fraser sits his test in the coming months. Good luck Cammy!

Merry Christmas!

We’re pleased to be supporting Babes in the Woods this Christmas.

For further information and how to donate please head to their website.
CHRISTMAS TOY APPEAL – Babes in the Wood

Conservation Day at Easter Cadder Workshop

17th October our Facilities Manager, at Strathkelvin Retail Park, Maureen Charlton, met with her team member John Fraser and our own Graham Robson.

The purpose was to hatch an action plan: to make use of discarded wood held on site, and to work to attract & protect wildlife at Strathkelvin Retail Park, and the surrounding woodland area.

The priority is to create safe environmental habitats within the park’s woodland using recycled materials, at no additional cost, as Winter approaches, protection from the elements being the driving factor.

After a significant amount of research over the best type of bird boxes & hedgehog homes that could be created, “plans” were literally...put together, see images.

A fantastic example of the Estate team and Retail Park Team working together for the good of the combined habitats owned by Caledonian.

Graham’s years of expertise on hand to provide advice – all risk assessed of course Clive! ….bird boxes are now done, the more complicated build of the “Hedgehog Hostelries” are scheduled for November….

Here are some photos of the day and the plans …. 1st class effort all round!

Possibly an addition to the Derwent residential portfolio?

Staff News

After 42 years’ service, with both LMS and Caledonian Estates, Alan Ewing will be retiring on the 30 September 2022. Alan has been our Accountant based in the Glasgow office and known to many in the local area in that time. He plans to spend his retirement years with his family. We recently enjoyed a lovely farewell dinner in his honour, at “The Anchorline” restaurant, when we were joined by some of our London colleagues. We wish Alan a happy and healthy retirement.

On the 1st of September we welcomed Cameron Fraser to our Estates Team. Cameron will be working with our busy Estate maintenance Team led by Gary Trotter, maintaining the residential properties and landscaping on the Estate.

New Employee

We’re pleased to announce that Kyle has recently joined the Estate team on a temporary basis over the summer, whilst he’s on holiday from university. Kyle will assist the maintenance team in all aspects of their work over the busy summer period. His first task was clearing up a load of fly tipped tyres from the Estate – a frustratingly frequent task, but at least he’s still smiling!

Residential Refurb

The Estate team have been working on the refurbishment and insulation of one of our residential properties after the previous long-term tenant vacated last year. The property has been insulated, new windows installed, new kitchen and bathroom and full redecoration and new flooring as well as external landscaping improvements in the garden. This has resulted in an improved energy performance rating, lower energy bills for the new tenant, reduced carbon emissions and improved aesthetics. I’m sure we can all agree that the before and after pictures show a vast improvement!