| AdminHistory | New industrial and commercial development within Livingston could be initiated in a number of ways. Large estates were planned and submitted to the Secretary of State for Scotland as Stage A Submissions under 6(1) of the New Towns (Scotland) 1968 Act. Individual plots, as long as they did not alter the character of those estates, did not need further approval. The Corporation then, could plan new factories as advance units, or could respond to inquiries from companies wanting to locate to Livingston, but who required specialised premises. With the advent of Kirkton Campus, the Corporation gained considerable experience in providing premises suitable for high technology firms, such as the Seagate computer chip plant, which required a cleaniness 1000 times that of an operating theatre.
Factory projects represent those projects which required specialised or tailored premises that the average plot on an industrial estate did not cater for; extension or alteration to existing premises; or the provision of advance factories so that space was available for occupation at all times.
By the 1990s the following process had been adopted for the completion of factory projects:
1. Inception.
2. Feasibility (and cost estimates) [see the Feasibility Studies series, LDC/CD/2/2]
3. Outline proposals; appoint planning supervisor and outline cost plan.
4. Scheme design and final cost plan.
5. Detailed design, including planning approval, warrant applications, steel design, landscape and mechanical and electrical.
6. Production information including architect, services engineer, structural engineer and civil engineer.
7. Bills of quantities including for steelwork, landscape and mechanical and electrical
8. Tender Action including for steelwork, landscape, and mechanical and electrical
9. Project planning.
10. Operations on site including steelwork erection, landscaping, roofing and cladding, and mechanical and electrical.
11. Completion.
12. Feedback.
Whilst the Technical Directorate undertook the technical aspects of the work, the Commercial Directorate was responsible for evaluating, supervising and providing costs for proposed projects, as well as liaising with the client. |
| ScopeandContent | There were some 305 factory projects across the lifetime of the Corporation, of which the Commercial Directorate still holds paper files for around 100.
The amount of material in each file varies, but they can contain correspondence with the client, telexes, internal memos and minutes of meetings; costings and other financial information; technical plans for facilities including elevations, sections and internal facilities such as electricity, plumbing etc; informational sources about the client, such as brochures, annual reports, annual accounts, and newspaper clippings; and correspondence and associated papers concerning interaction with the contractors brought in to do the work. |