THE Cruden Group has announced its intention to boost housing delivery by 25% over the coming year, in response to what the firm described as a ‘chronic undersupply’ of housing in Scotland.
The group has delivered an average of 1,200 new build homes in Scotland per annum over the past four years and recently reported turnover of over £190 million.
For the year ahead, Cruden said it expects this turnover to increase by 25% to approximately £240 million, comprising £195 million of construction services for housing clients, representing approximately 1,250 units, and £45 million from the delivery of approximately 250 homes for private sale, including joint ventures.
Developments the group are currently working on include: the first residential development of 66 new homes at the £35 million Waverley Square development in Edinburgh’s old town; 224 units on the former St Stephen’s School campus in Port Glasgow for River Clyde Homes; and across different tenures, including mid-market rent, and for a number of clients, construction of over 600 residential units at the Ropeworks development in Leith.
Kevin Reid, chief executive of the Cruden Group said, “It’s well documented that the country is suffering from an enormous undersupply of much needed new homes across all tenures. Despite political and economic uncertainties and challenges facing the housebuilding industry, we have made excellent progress this year and expanded our product offering to meet evolving market demands – paving the way for a bright future in years to come and helping to plug the housing gap. We have already seen a strong first six months of trading with turnover in the first six months of the year being £108 million and the group well on the way to meeting its target of delivering 1,500 new homes through a combination of private units for sale and those units delivered for our housing clients. Of our own brand private units for sale, we are 90% pre-sold for the year.
“As a group, we have the ability to secure land, fund developments and deliver large construction projects, which sets us apart from many of our competitors. By future-proofing the business through investing in new markets, we have already secured a robust forward order book up to March 2021 and a growing pipeline beyond that. We expect to be able to sustain turnover at this enhanced level in the period to March 2021 and we look forward with confidence to the years ahead.”
