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CONSTRUCTION firm Mactaggart & Mickel is unveiling a £45 million expansion across the Central Belt after snapping up land from failed housebuilder Applecross.
The luxury-apartment maker collapsed at the height of the property crash in 2009, prompting administrators from accountancy firm PwC to call in Mactaggart & Mickel to finish constructing its flats at Williamwood in Glasgow.
Now Glasgow-based Mactaggart & Mickel has bought the remaining land at the site, with planning permission for 23 houses and apartments.
Applecross, which was founded in 1979 by Colin Cumberland and Graham Aggett, was also working on the redevelopment of the former BBC Scotland head office on Queen Margaret Drive in Glasgow before folding under its £70m debt.
Mactaggart & Mickel was founded in 1925 as a housebuilder but has since diversified into more general construction projects.
The latest push across the Central Belt includes the company’s first foray into the university accommodation sector, with 240 student flats due to be built at Lochrin Place in Edinburgh’s Fountainbridge district.
Edinburgh City Council has also given the go-ahead for 87 apartments on the site, where 22 affordable houses have already been completed.
Ed Monaghan, chief executive of Mactaggart & Mickel, said: “Mixed-use developments are becoming increasingly prominent in our portfolio, and Lochrin marks a new venture for us in the construction of student accommodation, a market that has enjoyed increasing demand over the past few years.”
Monaghan added that he was “cautiously optimistic” about the year ahead for the builder.
The company has also been granted permission to build about 100 homes on the site of the former Forrest Furnishing factory in Dalkeith. Between them, the Dalkeith and Lochrin developments have been valued at about £12.4m.
At Dollar, in Clackmannanshire, the builder is looking to construct 20 homes and extend the sports pitches for Strathdevon Primary School.
Source: The Scotsman
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