A hat-trick of new housing ventures

Recent announcements that housebuilder Redrow will be making significant new site starts signals good news for home buyers thwarted by lack of choice in Central Scotland.

Among those sites due to be ‘unlocked’ are new developments in Inverclyde, North Ayrshire and Midlothian, comprising a total of 250 new homes.

First to launch will be Sylvan Brae, in Inverkip, and Whitehirst Grange, in Kilwinning, where initial infrastructure and building works are already underway. The first properties are likely to be released for sale in August this year.

A further site with planning consent for 73 new homes in Lauder Road, Dalkeith, will include more of Redrow’s popular family style homes and will launch later this year.

David Campbell-Kelly, managing director of Larbert-based Redrow Homes (Scotland), said: “In a recent trading update to the City, Redrow plc pledged to start a number of new sites and intends to focus on its historic strength of high quality family housing. Central Scotland will be one of the first areas to feel the benefit.”

Sylvan Brae, at Spey Road, Inverkip will feature 89 family style three, four and five-bedroom detached Redrow homes on a 13-acre site, which enjoys views across the Firth of Clyde towards the beautiful mountains of Argyll. Foundations are now underway and all roads and services have already been installed.

Redrow last built in the area in 2005, with a scheme of waterfront apartments at Greenock Esplanade, but has a long association with the area through its acquisition of Tay Homes, who built many hundreds of homes between Kilmalcolm, Greenock and Gourock.
At Whitehirst Park Road, Kilwinning, earthmoving plant is already on site to clear the way for a 10-acre development of 89 semi-detached and detached three and four-bedroom family homes.

The new development, Whitehirst Grange, is just half-a-mile from Redrow’s previously popular Dalgarven Meadows venture, completed in 2006; and again, through Tay, the company has strong links with the town that go back nearly 20 years.

David Campbell-Kelly adds: “We’re delighted to be moving forward with these developments and are further encouraged by signs of improvement in the housing market.

“Only this week, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) said strong demand from potential buyers combined with a shortage of homes for sale had helped boost the housing market in May, with enquiries from new buyers increased for the seventh month in a row.”

According to RICS, the increase in new buyer enquiries during May was most marked in London and the South East, but Scotland also saw a large jump in interest.

Redrow already has developments underway in Glasgow, Braehead, Glenboig, Lanark, Dunfermline, Edinburgh, Prestonpans and near Auchterarder. For information on homes for sale go to redrow.co.uk.