Growing positive sentiment around the country’s residential sector presents opportunities for investors, developers, and cities seeking to transform their places, delegates at a UK Stage session exploring Scotland’s evolving living market heard.
Expert speakers
- Jonathan Guthrie, chair of the Scottish Property Federation
- Hazel Pearson, director at MLA Architects
- Ben Wilson, divisional director at Glasgow City Council
- Adam Russell, investment director at Drum Property
- Cllr Mark Flynn, Leader of Dundee City Council
- Chaired by Dan Whelan, deputy editor at Place Media Group.
See gallery below
The session painted a picture of the market as it stands today, analysed how people are being put at the heart of efforts to regenerate town and city centres, and put forward solutions to some of the barriers to the delivery of the homes Scotland needs.
Shift in the market
Increased policy certainty provided by the government is beginning to turn the dial in the residential sector after previous uncertainty.
Proposed rent controls were reversed for BTR and mid-market homes after development slowed and the government has announced the introduction of a new agency, More Homes Scotland, aimed at speeding up the delivery of housing.
After a tricky few years, things are looking up, according to Jonathan Guthrie, chair of the Scottish Property Federation.
“I think we are still in that slow phase, but with lots and lots of opportunity,” he said.
“That’s why we’re here, to talk about what those opportunities are and how we can get out of the doldrums, as it were, and start to set sail going forward.”
Ben Wilson, divisional director at Glasgow City Council agreed with Guthrie’s view that the market is picking up.
“Is the wind starting to change direction? That’s what I’m hearing from my planning team,” he said, referring to anecdotal evidence of increased appetite among developers and investors that could diversify the city’s residential pipeline.
At present, PBSA dominates the residential pipeline in Glasgow, Wilson explained, but this could be about the change.
“When I ask our planning team what’s been happening, they’re describing a shift away from almost every conversation about residential use being [about] purpose-built student accommodation.
“More people [are] talking about build-to-rent…co-living and single-family housing.”
Solving problems
Tax incentives, public sector intervention, new ways of apportioning risk, and a strong partnership approach were among the ideas put forward by Drum Property investment director Adam Russell to plug the viability gap and ultimately make homes more affordable.
“How do the private and the public sectors come together to allow that risk to be taken in the market?” he mused.
One route to collaboration could be through More Homes Scotland.
The detail of how this agency could function is yet to be announced but Russell is clear that it should be as flexible as possible and provide a range of financial solutions including debt, equity, and grant.
“It could be a remediation, it could be infrastructure, it could just be a general market viability gap, they should be helping out with all of that,” he said.
Cllr Mark Flynn, Leader of Dundee City Council, also called on the government to do more to stimulate the market.
“As a local authority we have done everything we can do locally,” he said. “I think we’ve put all the policies in place and there is not much more we can do.
“We’re now at a stage where we need partnership working, we need to get the government supporting us to get across the viability issues.”
No compromise
One opportunity for growth in Dundee is on the city’s waterfront, a more than £1bn regeneration project that features the V&A, as well as wealth of brownfield sites across the city centre.
However, delivering units alone is not enough.
“We can’t just put units up because that makes no sense,” Flynn said.
“We’ve got to make sure the communities enjoy the space, love the space, but grow with it at the same time, young and old.”
While increased delivery is undoubtedly a priority for the country and the councils within it, it is crucial that design is not compromised in the pursuit of numbers, according to Hazel Pearson, director at MLA Architects.
“We need to stop measuring success by units,” she said. “It’s all about creating a home, creating a place, where people can thrive.”
It is incumbent on the private sector to be “more clever and more innovative” in developing design solutions that don’t break the bank but do not compromise on quality, Pearson added.
“I don’t think we can reduce quality in the slightest. I don’t think anyone wants that either or we’ll end up with issues like we have with 90s buildings now.”
