New initiative shines spotlight on the importance of SME home builders
SME Home Builder Report 2024 – with the country in the grip of a national housing emergency, Whiteburn welcomes Homes for Scotland’s new initiative highlighting the importance of SME home builders and stimulating debate on the policy support required to help them survive and thrive.
This follows recently published data revealing an alarming reduction in sector activity and is also in the context of a staggering 28 per cent of Scottish households (693,000) having been identified as being in some form of housing need. The research results found that the proportion of new homes sold by those building between three and 49 homes each year has fallen from around 40 per cent in 2017 to 20 per cent in 2023.
Jane Wood, Chief Executive of Homes for Scotland, the representative body behind the “SME Awareness Week” running from Monday 19 – Friday 23 August, said:
“As well as their importance in delivering housing in rural and remote areas, our data also reveals that SME home builders are key to unlocking the brownfield sites which the Scottish Government has said it wants to prioritise.
“However, SME home builders have particular challenges in relation to the viability of their operations, not least in relation to economies of scale, ever-increasing regulation and the upfront costs associated with residential development.”
Eve McCurrich, Managing Director for Whiteburn Projects, adds: “At Whiteburn, we are clear that SMEs are tremendously important to the diversity of new housing delivery across Scotland. In the past year, we have completed a development of 12 homes in Burntisland, handed over 15 affordable homes to Kingdom Housing Association and welcomed over 20 homeowners into our award-winning development Viewforth in Kirkcaldy, which means this popular development of 87 new homes is now over 50% occupied. We also have developments in the pipeline to deliver over 50 new homes in Peebles and 110 properties in Lauder.
We are pleased to have the opportunity to welcome the Housing and Planning Ministers, along with some of our HFS SME colleagues, to our offices as part of SME Awareness Week for a Roundtable discussion. I look forward to hearing how the government propose to support SME home building businesses across Scotland.
A buoyant SME culture would not only provide new homes but also see the creation of new businesses and jobs. The challenges SMEs like Whiteburn face are now more substantial than ever and were made crystal clear in the recent HFS SME report. Along with Homes for Scotland and SME colleagues, we are committed to working with the Scottish Government and local authorities to push this agenda forward and make some progress on the recommendations that we have made!”
Homes for Scotland is calling for an urgent review to identify, consider and remove burdens and challenges facing SME home builders, including proportionate planning practices that actively support the sector.
