Perth construction firm Stephen hopes its part in creating a new town between Stonehaven and Aberdeen will help drive “very significant” growth after years of tumult in the housebuilding market.
The company expects its workers to be on-site at Chapelton of Elsick next April, when it will begin the first phase of building on the 8,000-home, £1 billion development.
Planning permission for the first part of the new town was granted by councillors earlier this month, allowing construction of the first 225 properties to begin alongside AJC Homes of Aboyne and a joint venture involving Ayrshire’s Hope Homes and Dorset-based Zero C.
Stephen managing director John Stephen said the scale was a key attraction for his firm, which has “spent a significant amount of time, money and effort” working with landowner the Duke of Fife and project partners.
“It’s volume that is what we are seeking at the moment,” Mr Stephen said. “With the market being as depressed as it is, it is quite difficult to get significant volume.
“It’s also exposure to the Aberdeen market, which is clearly going a lot better at the moment. And it’s a long time since we’ve done anything in Aberdeenshire.
“We’re also very keen to work on the design of these houses, because it is different from mainstream housing.”
The project, which is being managed by the Duke of Fife’s son Lord Southesk, is focused on traditional town planning and architecture in what Mr Stephen describes the “local Scottish vernacular”.
It is something his family firm, established in 1935, has championed in its Stephen Country Homes brand at developments in Clathymore by Gleneagles and at Lagreach in Pitlochry.
“This design element is picking up on a theme that we have developed elsewhere,” Mr Stephen said.
The new town, which has received backing from the Prince of Wales, will be built on 2,200 acres of farmland near Portlethen, with the Elsick Development Company targeting the construction of the first 4,045 homes by 2023.
Hope Homes and Zero C have worked together on the prince’s redevelopment of the Dumfries House estate in Ayrshire, with the latter also responsible for environmentally-friendly developments at Poundbury, on land owned by the Duchy of Cornwall.
The first new neighbourhood, Cairnhill, is expected to be the first of seven, and will boast what its developers call “a self-sufficient and walkable community with shops, services and jobs”, a primary school with playing fields, and leisure, community and business facilities.
Mr Stephen said there was every indication his company could go on to build many more homes at the site, leading to a “very significant” impact for his firm.
In the short term he expects to add up to 20 roles to the company’s 70-strong workforce during the build of the company’s first 82 homes at Elsick.
He said the firm expects to post a turnover of around £12 million for the year to the end of March an increase of more than a fifth on the previous period, but still some 50% down on the company’s top line six years ago.
The decline in business had been “difficult” to manage, he added, but the lack of net borrowings on the company’s balance sheet had left it in better shape than many.
“We are also looking at other opportunities, because we are looking to grow the business significantly,” added Mr Stephen.
“But we’re not driven by targets, rather by opportunities. There are little signs that things are improving. Confidence seems to be returning and we are quietly optimistic, and Aberdeenshire is bucking the trend.”