Stewart Milne unveils new ‘post-pandemic’ house types

Stewart Milne has announced the release of a new range of house types it says are destined to bring in £550m for the Aberdeen-based firm.

The £378m housebuilder said the redesign was the most comprehensive embarked upon in its history. The new types are designed to take account of increasing demand for more flexible space both indoors and outdoors.

It said the  designs will be launched on the majority of its planned development across the UK this year, bringing in £300m in sales on existing developments in Scotland and the North west of England, with a further £250m in its medium term pipeline.

The redesign comes as the last year has seen a “race for space” among homebuyers, with the experience of lockdown forcing customers to incentivise both outdoor space and flexibility around home-working options.

Stewart Milne’s homes will include new lay-outs which the firm said were much more functional, and includes utility rooms with sinks, showers as standard in all family bathrooms, direct access into gardens from kitchens and utility rooms, larger windows, plus options for a home office on the ground floor.

The firm said the new homes also fitted with its recently adopted design framework which commits it to creating “distinctive and desirable new communities” that are “great places to live”. Under this framework, Stewart Milne said all its schemes will now have “special or unique features” which reflect local character and surroundings and which make the developments “immediately memorable”.

Stuart Henderson, group product and design director at Stewart Milne Homes, said the company had already been undertaking a comprehensive design review of our homes before the pandemic hit. “The enforced lockdown has brought into sharp focus the design and functionality of our homes and accelerated the process,” he said. “Unveiling our new designs at a time when our customers need and expect more from their homes gives us a competitive advantage.”

The re-launch comes after the firm fell to a pre-tax loss of £48.5m in the 16 months to October 2019, following a write-down in land values in the wake of the collapse of the housing market in North east Scotland following oil price declines. The firm sold 1,067 homes in the period.

The firm said the losses marked “the beginning of a period of transformation for the group”, which specialises in timber frame homes and offsite construction.