Residential Building Land Report - Regional Reports

Edinburgh City Council and Scottish Enterprise have been unveiled the master plan for a £2 billion mixed-use urban quarter at Granton Waterfront in Edinburgh . The scheme proposes 100,000 sq m of offices to be built over the next 5 years, 250,00 sq m of retail, a 35-storey skyscraper, which will include 25 residential floors, a 10-storey hotel and rooftop restaurant. Two visitor attractions and a further 4,500 new homes are also included.

House builders are also vying to buy the 17-acre former Scottish Agricultural Science Agency site at East Craigs near Edinburgh airport for a luxury housing development to build around 250 homes. Also in Edinburgh , a planning application has now been lodged for a £80 million housing plan by Cala Homes to restore and preserve Edinburgh 's historic Playfair building, currently home to Donaldson's College. The aim is to create 63 homes within the 150 year old building with a further 72 new build apartments to be constructed in a low rise crescent. The two original gatehouses are to be restored as modern homes.

The Durieshill site in Stirling , bounded by the M80 and M9 including the settlements of West Plean and Avenuehead has been chosen for the biggest single housing development in Stirling for the construction of 2,500 homes. However, opposition to the project by the Eastern Villages Alliance, and the fact that the trunk Scottish Executive roads department has still not yet lent its support to the development because of transport problems, means there is still a long way to go and that there will be a public inquiry next year .

Within Aberdeen Hawkrow Limited has now submitted plans for detailed consent for the construction of 400 new homes on the Broadford Works site. The 3.5 hectare city centre site features a number of listed mill buildings including the oldest iron- framed mill in Scotland dating from 1808 and consent is being sought to convert this and later 19 th century buildings into apartment blocks. A further five new apartment blocks are proposed, along with nine town houses. Malcolm Allan House Builders have also lodged plans for 130 homes on the site of the former McIntosh of Dyce factory. The company is seeking detailed consent to demolish the buildings on the Victoria Street site and build a range of residential units.

Within Perth and Kinross the Morris Leslie Group has launched an ambitious plan to transform part of Errol airport into a New Sustainable Village to meet housing demand identified in the Local Plan, which is to be built along totally sustainable principles, including the use of renewable and local building materials.

Developers are active in Dundee and the surrounding burghs and land values in Carnoustie especially have shown a substantial increase. In Dundee 's Ardler area Forman Construction has won the contract from Sanctuary Housing Association for a £17 million project where 215 houses will be built consisting of flats, 2 and 3 bedroom houses, bungalows and some special needs homes.

Planning applications were launched in October for a double expansion at Dundee 's City Quay development. Outline approval is being sought for a development of 250 town houses and flats on a car park site close to the Apex Hotel and a second detailed application has been submitted for a dockland project that will see the conversion of the historic Shed 25, a listed building which is the oldest transit shed on the Dundee waterfront, and the conversion of the clock tower into loft type and style apartments. A third phase of development will include new townhouses. The City Quay Project is a mix of retail, residential, leisure and hotel development and is owned by Forth Property Developments, a subsidiary of Forth Ports PLC, which owns and operates the harbour.

The under capacity within Scottish Water's sewage infrastructure remains a serious issue affecting development in Glasgow . To unblock development plans in the East End , Glasgow City Council is to give Scottish Water £3.5million after year-long talks with the water company had failed to find a solution to the lack of capacity in the infrastructure. This under capacity has delayed development of a number of key sites, including the £52million new neighbourhood in Garthamlock.

Glasgow City Council has released greenbelt land for housing development in an attempt to attract more affluent homeowners back to live within the city boundaries. The Stewart Milne Group is overseeing the Parkhouse development on the south side of the City where 330 family houses will be built, and the project is the first of six similar schemes that ultimately will create about 1,500 houses on various greenfield sites in Glasgow . The same developer is also behind five other schemes to build on greenbelt land, including developments near Robroyston and Deaconsbank. The Parkhouse development has been approved under the Glasgow City Plan, which identified a shortfall of available land for family housing and recommended a limited release of greenbelt land. It is anticipated that Parkhouse will be completed by 2010 and that it will comprise a range of 3 and 4 bedrooms houses, with prices expected to range from £160,000 up to £250,000. Under the agreement, the company is to donate 140 acres of land towards the creation of a new country park adjacent to the development.

Glasgow's riverfront continues to thrive despite a slowdown in the market and a further two new high-rise developments are proposed one of which consists of a 15 storey block on the corner of Dixon Street and Clyde Street for the construction of 43 flats. Both schemes follow the recent and somewhat controversial 25-storey tower project to transform the riverside frontage adjacent to Custom House Quay.

The notorious Great Eastern Hotel in Duke Street , Glasgow is to be converted by Campbell Construction Group into luxury flats. The owner, Milnbank Housing Association have revealed its £10 million plan to transform this landmark B listed building into 110 homes, 65 of which would market for sale and the remaining 45 units retained by the Association for social rent. The proposals also include a children's nursery and are expected to be submitted to the Council in spring 2005.

Persimmon Partnership's Muirshiel Park development in Priesthill, South Nitshill is part of a major regeneration programme for the area where 231 homes are to be built of which 100 will be owned by Sanctuary Housing Association and retained for social rent and the remaining 131 marketed for private sale. The initial release of houses for sale has exceeded all expectations with all released properties having sold at prices from £105,000 up to £160,000 for 3-bedroom semi detached villas.

Building on the successful intervention of the public sector within the residential market in Ruchill over the previous five years, Bellway Homes are currently on site at their Mondriaan development close to the Forth and Clyde Canal . The development comprises 176 units, 150 1 and 2 bedroom apartments and 26 3 and 4 bedroom townhouses and selling prices for the 2 bedroom flats starts from just over £150,000.

Nevertheless despite the continued activity there is increasing concern that Glasgow is now oversupplied with too many similar two bedroom properties, which in recent years have been sustained by the Buy to Let market. As these units are now proving increasingly difficult to let, there is real concern that there will be a flood of similar two bedroom flats offered to the market as landlords, unable to let properties and sustain high service charges, try to liquidise their assets. Any downturn in the market could be disastrous for a number of high profile current developments in Glasgow , if and when the market retreats to the more traditional and established residential areas of the city.

A slow down in the second hand market is also evident with increasing numbers of properties being offered at fixed prices, even including those in the preferred areas of the West End and Southside. Agents are reporting a significant reduction in enquiries and properties are taking longer to sell.

Developers are looking to previously unfashionable towns in South West Scotland to overcome the shortages of land found in the main areas. Towns such as Lesmahagow and Stonehousein Lanarkshire, both of which have good links to the M74, are seeing considerable activity.

The feeling across much of the country is that house prices have peaked and in some areas there is a suggestion of a slight decline. There is continued uncertainty as to whether houses prices will rise, fall or remain static in the next six to twelve months.

There is generally a continuing lack of supply of residential development land which is particularly apparent in respect of greenfield sites. Many local authorities, particularly across the north of England are reviewing their planning policies, and in the interim have imposed either planning moratoria or, at least, are restricting development to brownfield sites or smaller infill plots. Any developments, which do occur on these sites, are generally at higher densities than would have otherwise been the case.

There is a strong historic link between the fortunes of the housing market and the market for residential development land. Whilst the two markets do not always move in parallel it would be expected that uncertainty in the housing market would be reflected in a decline in the value of residential building land. Developers would normally seek to factor into their development plans the risk of future house price falls and the difficulty in disposing of completed units. The net effect of the residual calculations would be lower sums available for land purchase. However, across many areas it is felt that the lack of supply of available land coupled with continuing long term demand has resulted in residential building land prices holding up, even in areas with falling houses prices.

These opinions of the District Valuers are based on evidence derived from the limited number of land transactions that have occurred over the last six months. The brownfield sites and infill plots that have sold often have particular abnormal sites conditions to overcome that impact on the net amount of money a developer is prepared to commit to the site acquisition. Further, the attitude to affordable housing differs between local authorities and in some cases is site specific and negotiable.

All these factors make analysis and comparison between sites a challenge with the result that the market is increasingly difficult to value in general terms. Each site now has its own individual planning brief and additional planning requirements, including the provision of social housing, to the extent that land values are increasingly site specific.

The trends in the residential building land market may become clearer in the spring once price movements in the housing market itself become apparent and the longer term planning policies of many local authorities are finalised.