Nicola Barclay, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland emphasised incredible importance of the house building industry for Scotland, saying that “Homebuilding supports 80,000 jobs and contributes £370m to government and local finances and also contributes to social wellbeing”.  She discussed how historical lack of building was a significant challenge for the country, she said in “The last 12 years, since the recession, we have undersupplied homes to the tune of 80,000”.[emaillocker id=”71749″]

Barclay noted that the industry was making 7a significant recovery, citing the positive growth statistics that in the “Last 12 months completions are actually up 20%, in Q1 2019 they are up 24% on Q1 2018”. The benefits of building on this increase are numerous with Barclay citing the fact that “We know that higher rates of building can improve affordability, increase new household formation rates, improve health, educational attainment and social mobility”.

Barclay attributes part of the slow down in construction to housebuilders having to built on “larger, more complex sites” with access difficulties and stressed the need for the planning system to provide a diversity of sites. Barclay stated that “We are seeing an increase in productivity and production,  but we need it to be sustained over many years”, stating that Scotland would need “An addition 5000 homes every year to keep pace with current need and demand”.

Echoing many of Barclay’s sentiments was Christa Reekie, Director of Development & Housing at the Scottish Future Trusts, who discussed how the public sector was intervening to make housing demand, she said “When people think of the public sector and housing they instantly think of social housing  but over the past 10 years the public sector has taken a much more holistic interest in housing”. Reekie touted the success National Housing Trust Initiative an initiative to develop the mid-market rental sector

Initial work to develop the sector involved funding projects with a what Reekie dubbed a “full fat guarantee” on both capital and revenue.  The success of these initial projects, led to the development of a new type of home, the Council Variant, Reekie described these as featuring “A council guarantee, but it was revenue only and it is repayable”.

The Scottish Government then also with the LAR Housing Trust, providing £55m loan to enable the trust to leverage £65m of private sector investment. These investments proved the viability of the sector, Reekie claims stating that “Now the private sector is interested in it and delivering”.  She credits these schemes to the “5000-7000 units in the built to rent under constructed or consented”.

Winchburgh is a village in West Lothian that is demonstrating the economic value being produced by the growth in housebuilding, John Hamilton, head of Winburgh Developments claimed the GVA as being “over £1bn”. A former shale gas and brick producing town, is now the is the site of major redevelopment through a 15-year master plan which will the production of over 4000 housing units. Planning permission was granted in April 2012 and a total of 580 houses have already been produced. 

Formerly on the Glasgow-Edinburgh line, Hamilton revealed the work that has been ongoing to restore the rail infrastructure“We are still waiting to hear the outcome of another rail review which is ongoing, but we’re hoping to get released and get approval to build the new rail station in the next few months”. Winchburgh investments has been responsible for ensuring the new homes are supported  “The vast majority of infrastructure we are procuring directly as a private infrastructure business, we’re handing over service land to the local authority”. Five new schools are planned for the area, being produced in a “Tripartite agreement with West Lothian Council and the Scottish government” 

Two strategic sites were announced as being developed for housebuilding in Dundee by Executive Director at Dundee City Council Robin Presswood; The award-winning Dundee Waterfront, and the Western Gateway project.  Presswood summarised the development at the Waterfront, he said “In terms of housebuilding we are looking to build 500-1000 units there, there’s an opportunity to create something unique in the Dundee housing market”. The Dundee Waterfront is also being constructed on council on land, allowing greater flexibility, with Presswood remarking “We own all the land, so we drive forward the partnerships”.

At Western Gateway, a projectChief Planner Claims Improvements to the “Whole System” for Process In Scotland in the making since the 1990s, Springfield and Persimmon have been driving the development, which looks to deliver around 600 homes and 100 additional units. Dundee are particularly looking to expand house building as the population is beginning to grow again after a period of depopulation, enabled by the strength of their technical economy, Presswood said ‘“Increasingly its the knowledge economy that will power Dundees future, it’s cybersecurity, it’s computer games, it’s digital, it’s particularly life sciences”.

The panel all concurred on the role that housebuilding has to play not just as living spaces, but as an engine for wider economic growth and opportunities, and not just the opportunities, but also the need for more homes in Scotland. [/emaillocker]