Social enterprise, Places for People, has secured land alongside the Edinburgh by-pass to bring forward plans for more than 1,300 homes.

The organisation, which supplied more than 1,700 homes in the last year, acquired the 110-acre site near the Gogarburn roundabout from Murray Estates.

Colin Jack, regional managing director of Places for People Developments, Scotland, said the development will help ease the city’s housing shortage.

David Murray, managing director of Murray Estates’ owner Murray Capital, said: “As a family business that has owned this site for 40 years, we’re pleased to see our vision for Redheughs taken forward by an organisation committed to creating sustainable, high-quality communities.

“It’s nearly 10 years since we first applied for outline planning approval, so this transaction also unlocks capital that we can invest in new projects that support our ambitions as a patient, entrepreneurial business. 

“This is the first phase of the broader Edinburgh Garden District, which is a key part of the western expansion of the city. We look forward to seeing west Edinburgh come to life and contribute thousands of new homes the capital so desperately needs.

“We retain other strategic land holdings in the area – including 500 acres of the Garden District – and will look to develop options for these over the coming years.”

Construction turns negative as orders shrink

The latest monthly survey of industry purchasing managers indicates a fall in UK construction output last month. It comes after 10 consecutive months of rising output.

Shrinking order books and rising cost pressures contributed to the weakest business activity expectations since October 2023, according to the headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global UK Construction Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).

Construction companies cited delayed decision-making by clients on major projects and general economic uncertainty had weighed on business activity at the start of 2025.

Jordan Smith, technical director at Thomas & Adamson, part of Egis Group, said: “The overall construction PMI reading falling into negative territory for the first time in nearly a year is not unexpected – accelerating cost inflation, weaker economic conditions, and higher borrowing costs have slowed the sector’s recovery.

“Still, we expect to see further detail about the government’s spending plans in the coming months and would hope that this will provide much-needed stimulus to the sector – particularly areas that have struggled recently.

“It is also worth noting that, on balance, more firms continue to predict a rise in activity during 2025 than a fall.”

Josh Ward-Jones, director of Bloom Building Consultancy, commented: “The warning lights on the construction industry dashboard have switched from amber to red.

“In fact there’s precious little to cheer about in January’s PMI data, which shows a clean sweep of negative trends. Both output and orders are down, cost pressures are rising and sentiment is sliding.

“For much of 2024, the weakness of the housebuilding sector was offset by the buoyancy of commercial construction. No longer. January’s headline figure slipped into contraction territory for the first time since last February.

“The pipeline of new work is starting to get patchy too. While the decline in new orders was modest, as the first reversal in 12 months it cannot be dismissed as inconsequential.”