No groundworker listed in Gretna yet.

A groundworker handles the unseen work that supports a building - excavation, foundations, drainage runs, sub-bases, site clearance and grading - everything below ground level before the bricklayers and joiners arrive.

Get a soil and ground-conditions check on any site you don't already know - clay, made-up ground or peat each call for different foundation strategies and ignoring this is the most expensive mistake on a build.

Make sure any drainage work is signed off in writing - groundworks that fail building control later are a nightmare to retrofit once a slab has been poured.

Gretna is a village on the Scottish border, famous worldwide for its role in runaway marriages - couples eloping from England to take advantage of Scotland's more liberal marriage laws have been coming here since 1754.

The Old Blacksmith's Shop, where the village blacksmith performed marriages over the anvil, is now a visitor attraction and wedding venue and Gretna remains one of the most popular wedding destinations in Scotland.

Beyond the wedding tourism, Gretna is a residential village with a large retail outlet centre and it sits at the junction of the A74(M) and the A75 - the main route west across Dumfries and Galloway.

The village is the first - or last - settlement in Scotland for travellers on the M74, giving it a symbolic significance that goes beyond its small size.

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Dumfries and Galloway is the most south-westerly council area in Scotland, stretching from the English border at Gretna to the Mull of Galloway - the southernmost point in Scotland - and from the Solway Firth coast inland to the hills of the Southern Uplands.

Dumfries is the largest town and administrative centre, a handsome red sandstone burgh on the River Nith where Robert Burns spent the last years of his life and is buried in St Michael's Kirkyard.

The region divides naturally into three historic areas: Dumfriesshire to the east, Kirkcudbrightshire (the Stewartry) in the centre and Wigtownshire to the west - each with its own character, landscape and loyalties.

The Galloway coast and countryside have a mild climate influenced by the Gulf Stream, fertile farmland, dark-sky reserves and a string of small harbour towns that attract artists, writers and visitors drawn to the quiet and the landscape.

Despite its size, the region is one of the most sparsely populated in Scotland - a place where community is strong, the pace is slower and the landscape ranges from river valleys and rolling farmland to wild moorland and rocky coastline.