黑洞社区

As an organisation we now have more than 拢65m in projects over the next 4-5 years which we have put together in conjunction with several Scottish local authorities. In most cases we are saving them considerable sums of money in regenerating run down areas. We produce the scheme, fund and manage the process including maintaining the properties for a minimum of five years after completion.

One project (Cadzow Gate in Hamilton), which starts on site today, will save the local council in excess of 拢1m they had already allocated to remove buildings the owners had allowed to become almost derelict over a period of many years. We put a scheme together retaining the local retail element and upgrading the whole area with new flats and infrastructure for younger families.

All our projects work on the basis of full support for local authorities in relation to planning and other support and we prepare full funding packages at no cost to the local authorities. We are in effect taking away a problem from them and managing a situation they cannot handle themselves.

We do not seek the returns normally associated with housing projects and work on fairly slim margins. None of our projects would work if we demanded normal returns.

With the introduction of PGS and 鈥渞oof tax鈥� such projects become impossible to fund and so the area鈥檚 regeneration projects would fall at the first hurdle. Clearly the government has not considered the effect PGS will have on such projects and some radical rethink is definitely required. With Stamp Duty already an extra burden, projects such as ours are becoming more and more difficult.