Tag: Urban Union

More help for Scottish homebuyers

Housing Minister visits Pennywell

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The Scottish Government will spend £195 million over the next three years on a new shared equity scheme to help around 6,500 households buy a new-build home, it was announced yesterday.

The successor to the existing Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme will focus on affordable homes, with eligible buyers receiving an equity loan towards the purchase price of a new-build home.

There will also be on-going support for small developers, building on the success of the Small Developers scheme, launched in January.

With this new funding, and the Help to Buy scheme, the house-building industry will have received around half a billion pounds of support over a six-year period.

The Scottish Government will work with the house-building industry and lenders to agree on how the new scheme will operate. Further details will be announced following the UK Government’s spending review in November.

Social Justice Secretary Alex Neil visited Pennywell yesterday to meet families who have bought homes through the Help to Buy (Scotland) scheme.

Mr Neil said: “Making sure everyone in Scotland has access to good-quality housing is a vital part of the Scottish Government’s drive to secure economic growth, promote social justice, strengthen communities and tackle inequality.

“By targeting resources at affordable homes, the new scheme will widen access by providing a helping hand to individuals and families who wish to buy a new-build home.

“By the end of this new scheme, coupled with support through the current Help to Buy scheme, we will have helped around 14,000 households buy a new-build home.

“We will also reach our five-year plan of 30,000 affordable homes by March 2016 and our planned investment in affordable housing will exceed £1.7 billion.

“Conditions in the housing sector have continually improved under this government. We have seen sustained falls in homelessness and repossessions and a sixth successive annual fall in housing waiting lists.

“We have abolished the Right to Buy, protecting up to 15,500 social homes from sale over the next ten years, and thanks to our funding, councils are building new homes for the first time in 30 years.

“This considerable investment means that through Help to Buy and its successor, the Scottish Government will have invested around half a billion pounds over six years, providing the private sector and construction industry with a huge boost.”

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Regeneration firm Urban Union Ltd, a joint venture between construction firms McTaggart Construction and Robertson Group (Holdings), has been appointed by the City of Edinburgh Council to build more than 700 affordable and private homes in Pennywell.

Graeme Nicol, Managing Director, Urban Union Ltd said: “We welcome the news that Help to Buy is continuing through a new shared equity scheme.

“Help to Buy has been incredibly popular – the majority of buyers at our developments at Pennywell in Edinburgh and Laurieston in Glasgow received funding through this scheme.

“Urban Union is committed to delivering affordable homes and the continuation of support, focusing on the affordable housing market, is a much needed and welcome boost for people who need it most.”

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City of Edinburgh Council Housing Leader, Councillor Cammy Day (above), said: “I welcome the Scottish Government’s commitment to help more people buy affordable, energy efficient homes.

“Increasing housing costs in Edinburgh have priced many people out of the private ownership market, making it impossible for them to get on the property ladder.

“I hope that today’s announcement means more people in Edinburgh will benefit from the Help to Buy scheme and also means that we will be able to take forward more projects like Pennywell, which has played a vital role in regeneration of the local area.”

Taking care: Urban Union is considerate constructor

Industry award rekindles memories of Muirhouse accident

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Last month, Urban Union’s Pennywell Living housing development received a silver award from The Considerate Constructors Scheme at the annual Scottish Considerate Constructors event held in the capital.

The Considerate Constructors Scheme is an initiative introduced by the construction industry to improve and enhance relations with communities where building works are taking place.

The Scheme encourages sites to adopt best practices beyond what is outlined in statutory requirements with the main areas focusing on impact on the general public, workforce and the environment.

In itself, the award is not earth-shattering news – these kind of industry awards are usually seen as shindigs, a jolly opportunity for companies, organisations and their clients to get together to slap each other on the back. BAFTAs for business, if you like.

But Urban Union’s award for their construction practices rekindled memories of a dreadful accident that happened just yards from today’s Urban Union site sixteen years ago this month.

On 10 August 1999 brother and sister Danielle (5)and William Welsh (6) died when they were run over by a lorry which was removing rubbish from a construction site behind Pennywell shops.

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Danielle and William were playing outside their granny’s Muirhouse Crescent home when Danielle told her grandmother, Catherine Welsh, that she had found a 50p piece and was going to the shops. Mrs Welsh called them back, but they ran off towards the shopping centre, crossing a grassy bank on to an access road.

Construction work was taking place at the time, and as a lorry passed between a building and the grassy bank, the children ran in front of it. There was nothing the driver could do – it was later ascertained that the lorry’s speed was no more than five miles per hour – but the children ‘froze’ in front of the lorry and died in a horrific accident.

I remember the scene vividly – it was one of the first jobs I covered for NEN and I’ll never forget the anguished look on people’s faces as they took in what had happened on their doorstep.

While no one individual or organisation was found to be responsible for the tragedy, lessons were learned – albeit at an unacceptably awful cost – and safety standards have improved on construction sites. The Considerate Constructors Scheme is one example of this.

The Urban Union development in Pennywell was reviewed in five categories: appearance, respecting the local community, protecting the environment, safety and valuing its workforce. It received the silver award as it was deemed to have excelled across all five areas, since its launch last summer.

Urban Union’s mananging director Graeme Nicol said: “We are all delighted with this recognition from the Considerate Constructors Scheme. Our construction manager Brian Pettigrew and his team take great pride in delivering the Pennywell Living project to the highest standard.

“Most recently, as part of our commitment to the local community, a team of employees and our Urban Union mascot Ivor Goodsite, visited Craigroyston Primary School to teach pupils all about the different types of plant machinery and safety on site. This is an example of the work we do to ensure the local community is aware of the work going on, on their doorstep.”

So sometimes, industry awards really are something we all can celebrate. Congratulations, Urban Union.