First homes to go up in North Staneyhill this summer – but finding contractors remains a ‘struggle’ 

Developers of Shetland’s largest new housing development say they are “struggling” to find contractors to carry out the next phase of work.

Hjaltland Housing Association chief executive Bryan Leask said the North Staneyhill project was “on schedule and on plan”.

But while progress so far had been a “lot better than anticipated”, Mr Leask said there was an issue with the availability of large contractors to build the new homes.

Speaking at last night’s (Monday) Lerwick Community Council meeting, Mr Leask said: “We are struggling to find contractors to do the larger scale housing development.”

Work on the 300-home development began a year ago with main contractor Garriock Bros carrying out rock breaking on the hillside to create a new spine road.

Alongside that work, Mr Leask said Hjaltland would be launching the tender for the first phase of housebuilding next month.

If successful, it is hoped the first of the 66 new homes in The Terrace, behind the Anderson High School halls of residence, could start going up in late summer.

Mr Leask said Hjaltland wanted to award the contracts to Shetland firms - but only E&H and DITT were large enough to do the bigger projects.

Having met contractors to understand their capabilities, Mr Leask said he had tried to break the work up into smaller phases so other firms could bid.

It means the 66 homes in The Terrace will be developed over three phases - of 32, 28 and six units.

These first phases are expected to take three or four years to complete, with the first new homes ready by early 2028.

Overall, the 300-home development is likely to take around 15 years to complete.

Mr Leask said Hjaltland and the SIC were co-ordinating efforts to ensure North Staneyhill and the Knab redevelopment did not clash to minimise the strain on contractors.

Responding to questions about rock breaking, which has posed some disruption to neighbouring residents over the past year, Mr Leask said the bulk of that work would be completed in this phase.

While there would be occasional requirements throughout other phases of the development, Mr Leask said the “vast majority” would be completed during in this section.

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