Scottish Minister for Housing Paul McLennan with Osprey Housing CEO Stacy Angus at the social landlord’s regeneration project in Bridge of Don, Aberdeen.
The Scottish Government’s Minister for Housing Paul McLennan visited a unique affordable housing regeneration project during his visit to Aberdeen earlier this week [09 JULY].
Renovation work is currently under way to convert a former bank and commercial unit in the city's suburb area of Bridge of Don into six high-quality rented homes for Aberdeenshire-based registered social landlord Osprey Housing.
The £850,658 Ellon Road project is due for completion in October this year and is helping preserve a part of the city’s rich granite heritage while also upgrading the building to meet current Building and Energy efficiency standards. KW Contractors, a locally based building firm who specialise in refurbishment projects, are the delivery partner for this site. This is their first delivery of new affordable homes.
Nearly £636,000 of the project cost has come from the Scottish Government in Housing Association Grant funding, and Mr McLennan was interested in learning what was involved in harnessing public money to deliver a small-scale regenerative project of this kind.
He said: ‘The new social homes in Bridge of Don, backed by over £600,000 of Scottish Government funding, will play a valuable role in boosting Aberdeen’s affordable housing supply.
‘Everyone deserves a warm and safe place to call home and these high quality properties delivered by Osprey Housing show how unused buildings can be converted into much-needed homes.’
He added: ‘Good quality housing is essential to attract and retain people in our communities. We are focused on delivering at least 110,000 affordable homes across Scotland by 2032 and at least 70% of these will be for social rent.’
Osprey Housing CEO Stacy Angus said: ‘There is a lot of media focus on the need for more new homes, but it’s also important to demonstrate that reusing and repurposing existing buildings can be a key part of meeting housing need whilst regenerating our existing communities.
‘The location of this site is fantastic both in terms of accessibility and connectivity to the city in addition to the nearby open space and beach.
‘Smaller scale projects like this make good use of the limited grant funding available ensuring we deliver value for money in our ambition to deliver new homes in a high demand area.’
She added: ‘This project has been a real success in terms of the partnership working to overcome some of the challenges faced with refurbishment sites which often make them less attractive than new build field sites. This is our first refurbishment project and we are keen to deliver future opportunities to rejuvenate the local area through high-quality homes that are fit for the future.’
Osprey currently owns and manages more than 1,800 properties across Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire, and Moray.
Once complete, the Bridge of Don project will deliver two two-bedroom flats and four one-bedroom flats. The two-bedroom property on the ground floor has been designed specifically with full wheelchair accessibility and private access from the main street. All six flats will have off-street parking and will be heated by gas and feature fire suppression systems.
