Housing / New social housing scheme provides boost for Walls
A NEW £1 million social housing development in Walls has been completed – with keys set to handed over to tenants next week.
A total of 35 people applied for Hjaltland Housing Association’s four new two-bedroom home at Forralea in Walls.
The properties are semi-detached, single storey.
The development was a design and build project with local construction firm E&H.
Hjaltland staff and trustees, as well as the local media, were invited for a look around on Friday morning.
It will be well located for the incoming tenants – with the local shop, for example, just a short walk away.
The houses are of course well up to modern standards, with an air source heat pump, and mechanical ventilation inside which extracts from areas where moisture and vapour will be generated.
Hjaltland’s head of investment and asset management Paul Leask said £650,000 for the development came from a Scottish Government grant from the affordable housing supply programme.
The rest came via Allia is a charitable bond programme provided by the Scottish Government, which is effectively the same as private finance borrowing.
Hjaltland chairman Colin Nicholson said the development was completed on time, and within budget.
Leask said 35 applicants was a “lot for four houses” but described it as a “snapshot at this time”.
“I think it shows that there’s a demand at the moment,” he added.
“When you look over the longer period, I think there’s still a demand there [but] because there’s 35 applicants it doesn’t mean that we need to build 35 houses.
“So there’s a need and there’s a demand. And I think there’s never been so much pressure on affordable housing because all other housing options are being shut down or limited for people.
“And it’s not really a surprise that we’re seeing high demand for this. There’s also high demand in other areas also, in other rural areas.”
Leask highlighted how Hjaltland has just finished six units in Aith and two in Brae.
E&H also has a planning application in for housing at the site of the former Moorfield Hotel site in Brae.
And Leask said of the houses built by Hjaltland more than half of them has been outside of Lerwick.
Over the next 15 years there will be Hjaltland’s Staney Hill development in Lerwick, which will see a few hundred homes built in phases.
Leask said looking to the future another thing in the mix is the level of grant funding available, and the workforce capacity in Shetland.
He said there is a “diminishing” workforce in relation to large contractors.
“There’s a lot more smaller contractors, and so the industry can deliver on these things but it takes longer.
“So the feedback that we got from them is try and put things out in smaller contracts. That takes longer, and takes longer to deliver things.”
Shetland West councillor Liz Peterson said the new Walls housing scheme is a “very welcome boost to the west side”.
“These look like lovely houses, and I hope the new residents will be very happy within them,” she said.
“There was 35 applicants for these homes, and I hope that goes some way to demonstrate to both SIC housing dept, and Hjaltland Housing Association, that people want to stay on the west side.
“We want to ensure that young folk and families are able to continue to live in the area they were brought up in, so we need further family size housing in this area.
“This will ensure that our small communities remain viable, and are sustainable. As the council is committed to sustaining rural communities, I hope we will see further housing coming to the West side in the future.”
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