Work underway on new Scalloway housing development

WORK has begun on a significant housing scheme in Upper Scalloway which will bring 36 new homes to the area.

Contractor E&H went on site on Monday (22 March) to begin the initial stages of work.

It will see 32 social houses built for Hjaltland Housing Association, while four private homes are also planned.

E&H managing director Bobby Elphinstone said work on the housing could start in around three months.

“We have some of the enabling works to do before we start the main house building contract, which involves a bit of a road widening adjacent to the Scalloway games hall,” he said.

Work is set to be on the go for over two years, with the project E&H’s main job.

It has been a long process, with plans for submitted for the development in 2018.

While it attracted some concern from residents of Upper Scalloway, particularly around the access route to the housing, it was given the green light in 2019.

But Elphinstone said the impact of coronavirus restrictions has effectively delayed the project by one year.

“We should have been on site this time last year,” he said.

“It’s been a frustrating time and it’s taken a long while to go through the process to get to this stage, so we’re pleased to be finally there.”

The building contractor did have some concern that the Viking Energy wind farm construction would create a shortage of available heavy plant and equipment, but Elphinstone said those worries have been allayed.

“I think we may have struggled to get the plant that we required further down the line if we hadn’t got a start now,” he said.

“It’s not going to be a problem now because of the date we’ve got started. The plant that we require is going to be available in the short term.”