Springfield Properties agrees £6.3m contract
- The Elgin-based firm intends to begin constructing the homes immediately
- Four weeks ago, Springfield secured a £10m contract from Moray Council
Springfield Properties has signed a new £6.3million deal with Wheatley Group to deliver more affordable houses.
The Elgin-based housebuilder intends to begin constructing the homes immediately and complete them before October 2025.
Its announcement follows four weeks after the firm secured a £10million deal from Moray Council to build private and affordable housing as part of the Moray Growth Deal, which aims to bolster economic growth across the region.
Contract: Scottish housebuilder Springfield Properties has signed a new £6.3million deal
The company also won a £15.3million contract three months ago from the Highland Housing Alliance to meet an anticipated surge in demand for properties around the Inverness and Cromarty Firth green freeports.
Innes Smith, chief executive of Springfield, said the Wheatley deal ‘marks another great step for us in affordable housing, building on the excellent momentum with multiple recent contract wins and is a good way to end our current financial year in this area of the business.
‘We are excited to once again be working with the Wheatley Group, a long-term partner of Springfield, to deliver these vitally important affordable homes.
Founded in 1956, Springfield began as a market garden before transforming into housebuilding during the early 1990s under the leadership of Alexander ‘Sandy’ Adam.
It grew gradually over the next two decades, eventually surpassing £100million in annual sales by 2017, the same year it went public on London’s junior AIM market.
After trade was damaged heavily by Covid-related restrictions, the firm’s revenues more than doubled from £143.5million in 2020 to £332.1million last year.
However, its turnover fell by a quarter to £121.7million in the six months ending November, while its pre-tax profits plunged by 80 per cent to £1.2million due to elevated interest rates hitting private housing demand.
The Bank of England hiked the UK base rate 14 consecutive times between late 2021 and summer 2023 to try and lower inflation, thereby pushing up mortgage costs and reducing homebuyers’ confidence.
Analysts largely expect borrowing costs to come down in the coming year, given that the BoE expects to cut interest rates as the UK inflation rate has fallen to just 2.3 per cent.
When reporting its half-year results, Springfield observed that private housing reservation rates were displaying some signs of recovery.
Springfield Properties shares were 2.1 per cent, or 2p, up at 96p on early Thursday afternoon and have risen by around 11 per cent over the past year.
