Housing Minister discusses future opportunities

HOUSING Minister Paul McLennan was in the region last week to discuss opportunities for the future.

He visited Eco Group in Annan to meet Prosper (the Scottish Council for Development and Industry) members from the area and talk about how support can unlock housing developments and the fundamental role housing plays in growing the regional economy.

Garry Legg, head of strategy at South of Scotland Enterprise, attended and said the event showed the South of Scotland is ideally placed to be ‘Scotland’s test bed for doing housing differently’.

He noted that recent reports have highlighted the shortage of homes in Scotland and the need for different thinking and solutions, such as modular construction, circular manufacturing, and innovative offsite housing models.

In particular, Prosper’s “Housing Supply For A Growing Economy” report emphasises the importance of innovation as a lever for economic growth. It highlights the need to accelerate the adoption of Modern Methods of Construction and invest in offsite manufacturing and innovation.

And it includes a case study on VASO by Eco, which are composite construction panels made from recycled glass. They were developed to deliver industrialised construction solutions to help address Scotland’s and the UK’s housing shortage.

The firm’s founder Eddie Black said: “It is over a year since the Scottish Government declared a housing emergency and finding solutions is critical to Scotland’s economic growth.

“The opportunity to discuss industrialised construction, the speed and efficiency VASO By Eco offers as a systematic solution to the crisis, with the Minister and invited guests, offered an approach from outside the traditional silos and provided optimism that there are innovative solutions being developed to take the stress away from traditional supply chains and create a housing opportunity by circular and advanced manufacturing.”

Agreeing Garry Legg added: “There is a unanimous consensus that we must do things differently to address the housing challenge, with partners in the South already coming together to take the action they know is required.

“Some of that will require wholesale change, which will take time. Much can, however, be achieved via flexing what we have and do now, and in affording greater autonomy.

“Arguably nowhere else in Scotland is such a determined, action-orientated, co-ordinated and truly collaborative effort to boost housing delivery underway. We are a region leading by example.

“Coupled with the scale and nature of available sites and underpinned by the ambition and tenacity of many of our communities and businesses – who are already collaborating in new ways to pioneer bold and innovative solutions which could benefit Scotland and beyond – the South of Scotland is up for, and ideally placed to be, Scotland’s test bed for doing housing differently.”

Above . . . Sara Thiam, Prosper chief executive; Eddie Black, founder and MD of Eco Group; and Housing Minister Paul McLennan at EcoÕs Annan HQ