North-east housebuilder Bancon Homes is targeting more new business in the central belt after unveiling plans for an “exclusive” new development in South Lanarkshire.
It is the first time the Banchory-based business has ventured beyond its traditional heartlands.
Managing director Allan Clow said the firm was trying to avoid having “all its eggs in one basket” after Covid-19 and weak oil prices plunged the North Sea energy industry into another downturn.
Bancon Homes – part of construction company Bancon Group – has been building homes for more than 40 years but until now was focused solely on Aberdeen city and shire.
“Our strategy now is to try to get a better geographic spread for the business,” Mr Clow said, adding the move also helped to de-risk the business.
Bancon Group’s kit homes business, Deeside Timberframe, already operates outside the north-east and now Bancon Homes will now follow suit.
Mr Clow said the housebuilding subsidiary may open a satellite office in the central belt if its expansion plan takes off.
He added: “We do, of course have to find land and go through the usual planning process, which can take a long time, but the intention is for us to have critical mass down there.”
With a planning application submitted for the first project in Strathaven, Bancon Homes is already looking at a couple of other potential sites in the central belt, he said.
But asked whether Bancon Homes may also expand north to the Inverness area, he said: “Our focus is more to the south. There are a lot of people in the Inverness market already.
“There are more opportunities and more people in the central belt.”
The firm is currently inactive because of the Covid-19 lockdown, with a majority of staff furloughed.
Major housebuilders like Barratt, Taylor Wimpey and Persimmon have announced plans to resume work in some parts of the UK. Bancon Homes is ready to join them as soon as it is able to do so safely, Mr Clow said.