120m, 10 year regeneration of Stirling's Raploch area
Edinburgh Evening NewsCruden and Wimpey top the list for 120m GBP estate revamp
JIM STANTON DEPUTY BUSINESS EDITOR
EAST of Scotland building firms Cruden Group and George Wimpey have seen their R3 joint venture consortium secure preferred bidder status for one of Scotland's biggest urban regeneration projects.
The 120 million GBP, ten-year project will involve the wholesale transformation of the notorious and rundown Raploch estate, Stirling's most deprived area.
R3 - which stands for Raploch, Reinvented, Regenerated - consists of Edinburgh-based Cruden Group and Dunfermline builder George Wimpey. The venture will see the building of 650 private and 250 socially rented houses on behalf of the Raploch Urban Regeneration Company.
Other new facilities will include a new health complex, an educational campus with two primary schools, a family centre, community centre, an employment and resource centre, sports facilities, cycle and walk ways, and a special educational needs unit.
Steve Simpson, consortium partner and managing director of Cruden Homes (East), said R3's proposals were not just about new housing. He said: "We will be creating a modern community that is fully integrated with its physical environment, has access to state-of-the-art health and educational facilities, as well as easy access to technology."
Included in the 12-phase development will be a range of eco-homes with a "very good" rating.
R3 will also team up with local technology firm Hometech to kit some of the houses that will be used by elderly and vulnerable residents with equipment linked directly to the area's doctors' surgery, allowing the likes of blood pressure readings to be conducted without a visit to the surgery or home.
Fellow R3 partner Martin Hensman, strategic land manager for George Wimpey, said the spectrum of innovative ideas included in the project would "back the boundaries of regeneration".
"And in a first for a Scottish community, there are plans to ensure that all new homes and businesses are fully IT-enabled, providing a genuinely 21st century environment in which to live and work," Mr Hensman said.
All the homes being constructed will feature the latest in digital/home integration capabilities and offer wireless internet access, which Mr Hensman said was also "a first for Scotland on a development of this size and scale".
Sandy Watson, area director of Communities Scotland, said: "This is not just a housing project, we are delighted that this is in fact the holistic regeneration of Raploch."
The first house sales are expected to take place next summer.
