Angus Council Provost, Ronnie Proctor, officially opened Angus Housing Association’s 20 house development at Restenneth Fields in Forfar last week.

Part of a much larger scheme with over 200 houses for sale, the Restenneth Fields site was developed by Forfar-based developer Guild Homes. The 20 rented homes were provided as part of a planning agreement with Angus Council and consist of 12 x 2 bedroomed single storey semi detached houses and 8 x 3 bedroomed semi detached houses.

The average cost of each house was £121,000 and the total value of the contract was just over £2.4 million.

Restenneth Fields is the third project undertaken by AHA in partnership with Guild Homes, following on from two previous developments in Kirriemuir. Work is also underway on a small project to build 2 full wheelchair accessible homes at Kingsmuir and plans are well advanced for a further large scale joint venture in Forfar.

Speaking at the official opening, AHA chairman, Elizabeth Whitson, and Councillor Proctor both paid tribute to the vision of Mark and Robin Guild in putting the Restenneth Fields project together and for their company’s commitment to Angus and the many local construction jobs it supports.

Elizabeth Whitson added: “These beautiful new homes are a small contribution to meeting the Scottish Government’s target of 35,000 new affordable homes to rent by 2021. As part of Angus Council’s Strategic Housing Investment Plan, we have many more projects on site or in the pipeline.

“Restenneth Fields is a project of which we are particularly proud. One of the UK’s biggest house-builders is currently building new houses for us in Arbroath and in terms of quality, price, value for money and personal relationships, this huge company could learn a few important lessons from local developers we partner with like Guild Homes and DJ Laing of Carnoustie.

“We appreciate the need for a contribution from volume builders to help resolve Scotland’s housing crisis. These companies do, however, receive assistance from the public purse through Help to Buy subsidies and quite frankly, some of them do not deliver, especially when it comes to their much vaunted economies of scale. Supporting local developers will always be AHA’s preferred option but we will also be bringing the issues we face in dealing with volume builders to the attention of the Scottish Government.”