Latest news with #StewartMilneGroup
BBC News
01-07-2025
- Business
- BBC News
New owner of unfinished 3,000-home Countesswells development
A new owner has taken over a building firm behind an unfinished housing estate on the outskirts of Development Ltd (CDL), which went into administration in November 2021, planned to construct about 3,000 homes as well as schools, retail and leisure is thought about 900 homes have been built in Countesswells, a suburb which lies to the west of Aberdeen. Stirling-based Ogilvie Homes Ltd has bought land and some of CDL's assets for an undisclosed sum. The company said it was looking forward to pushing ahead with the development. CDL blamed the oil and gas downturn and Covid pandemic for the administration it said it firmly believed in the future of the housing project, which was split between a number of them was the Stewart Milne Group, which collapsed last year. Although building work on housing has stalled in recent years, the new community is now home to a primary school and a health centre, as well as some shops. However, amid the uncertainty over its future, Aberdeen City Council decided last year not to build a proposed secondary local authority opted instead for a replacement academy at Hazlehead will take pupils from areas including Homes' land director Julie Leece said: "Countesswells is a significant new premium mixed-use development that is already proving to be a major asset to the north east of Scotland. "We look forward to working with current and new home owners, the local community and key stakeholders, developers, investors and suppliers on the next phases of the masterplan."Tom MacLennan, of administrators FRP Advisory, said the firm was "very pleased" to have completed the sale. He added: "We would also like to thank residents, the local community and a wide range of stakeholders for their patience and support throughout."
Press and Journal
19-05-2025
- Business
- Press and Journal
Talks over sale of Aberdeen housing site Countesswells drag on for nearly a year
Talks are still ongoing to finalise the sale of Aberdeen's Countesswells development, nearly a year after it went under offer. Administrators have admitted the process is 'taking longer than originally hoped'. A mystery buyer for the Stewart Milne site was revealed in June last year, but there's still been no sale. Shepherd Chartered Surveyors was appointed to find new owners for the scheme in May 2022 after Countesswells Development Limited (CDL) foundered in the wake of the oil and gas downturn and the Covid-19 pandemic and plunged into administration. The scheme includes plans for thousands of homes, as well as shops and schools. CDL, set up to manage the £800 million development, was a subsidiary of the Stewart Milne Group (SMG). Stewart Milne Group went bust in January last year, with hundreds of jobs axed. A spokesman for the joint administrators today confirmed the site still has a sale pending with 'complex' talks continuing. The site is still showing as being under offer on the Shepherd's website. About 900 homes have been built in the community since construction began in 2015 by a mix of builders including Stewart Milne, Barratt, David Wilson Homes, Kirkwood and Chap Homes. But the plan is for more than 3,000, meaning two-thirds of the development is still up in the air. Housebuilder Barratt is currently in the middle of building at the development. It has already finished 131 homes with another 318 to be built, including its current Kings Gallop scheme. Felipe Ferreira, north division sales and marketing director, previously confirmed Barratt will continue to build homes on site and 'carry on as normal'. In November 2023, councillors axed plans for a new secondary school and instead opted to go-ahead for plans for a 1,600 pupil replacement for Hazlehead Academy. This came despite warnings that the facility had been something of a 'selling point' for the hundreds who have already bought new homes. A spokesman for the joint administrators said: 'The joint administrators are continuing to work towards a sale notwithstanding that the process is complex and taking longer than was originally hoped.'
