Stewart Milne Homes (SMH) is targeting a £550 million boost to revenue after unveiling a new-build range aimed at meeting the changing needs of buyers as a result of Covid-19.
The Aberdeenshire housebuilder, part of construction firm Stewart Milne Group (SMG), based in Westhill, near Aberdeen, said it was “the most ambitious and comprehensive” re-design of the company’s homes range in its history.
It expects the design overhaul to generate sales of £300m across its current developments in Scotland and north-west England, with a further £250m of house sales in the pipeline over the next two years.
The enforced lockdown has brought into sharp focus the design and functionality of our homes.”
Stuart Henderson, Stewart Milne Homes
SMH said it was at the forefront of a “step-change” in the design of the communities in which its newly designed homes will be launched, catering for the changing needs of families now and in the future.
It added its new homes were “more elegant, spacious and functional”, taking account of growing demand for flexible space, indoors and out, following the coronavirus lockdowns.
‘Extensive market research’
To be launched on the majority of SMH’s planned developments across the UK this year, the new homes are the result of work by the company’s in-house design and shaped by “extensive market research, best practice and creativity in place-making,” the firm said.
Stuart Henderson, group product and design director, SMH, said: “We were undertaking a comprehensive design review of our homes before the pandemic.
“The enforced lockdown has brought into sharp focus the design and functionality of our homes and accelerated the process.
“Unveiling our new designs at a time when our customers need and expect more from their homes gives us a competitive advantage. ”
Mr Henderson added: “Following extensive customer research, we set out clear design principles which are at the heart of every new design.
“These are – simple elegance, supremely functional and appealing. Our design teams reviewed how people move around and use their home, examining what they do in each room and what they need as a result.
“This has shaped the new layouts, which are much more functional, including utility rooms with sinks, showers as standard in all family bathrooms, direct access into gardens from kitchens and utility rooms, larger windows and options for a home office on the ground floor, as well as better usable space throughout.”
Mr Henderson has also worked on a layout framework for new SMH developments, including the design of streets and landscaping, as well as formal and informal green spaces.
He added: “The aim is for every new Stewart Milne Homes development to have special or unique features which reflect local characteristics and surroundings, and make the new community immediately memorable and desirable with pleasant, landscaped areas.
“As developers, we have a responsibility to ensure that what we build has a positive and life-enhancing effect on those who live there.
‘Legacy’
“Our approach to new developments means that we will leave a legacy we can be proud of, with places that have soul, individuality and character, shaped around the way people live.”
SMG was founded by executive chairman Stewart Milne in 1975. To find out more about the group’s history click here.
Figures posted by the group earlier this year showed it started 2021 with record forward sales of new homes, fuelling expectations of a long-awaited return to the black.
The group said it had secured advance reservations for more than 70% of the 700-plus homes it planned to build this year.
SMG’s timber-kit homes division also started the year with a strong forward order book, worth more than £200 million.
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