Power firm invests in building of 147 new homes

SSEN Transmission has invested in new homes to be built in Stornoway

One hundred new homes are to built in Stornoway in Lewis and 47 in Brechin in Angus following investment from energy company SSEN Transmission.

The properties form part of the company's plans to support the construction of 1,000 homes across Scotland.

They will be used to accommodate workers on major electricity projects before being made available as affordable and social housing.

SSEN Transmission said it had signed deals with housing firms and the new homes were expected to be completed by the end of 2027.

The company runs the electricity transmission network in the north of Scotland.

The investment includes support for 47 properties in Brechin

The Stornoway properties are related to the Lewis Hub, a substation and converter station proposed for a site on Arnish Moor near Stornoway.

The hub is part of plans to lay a subsea cable between the Western Isles and Scotland's mainland to deliver power generated by island wind farms.

The cable was first proposed almost 20 years ago.

Stornoway is the Western Isles' only large town and has a population of about 7,000 people.

CalMax Construction and housing agency Tighean Innse Gall will progress the plans for the 100 new homes.

In Angus, SSEN Transmission said it was supporting the delivery of 47 new homes through multi-million-pound investment for the Brechin Infirmary Housing Development.

They will initially house workers building the proposed new 66-mile (106km) Kintore to Tealing 400kV overhead line.

Chap Group will build the properties in Brechin, a town with a population of about 7,000 people.

The properties in the Stornoway and Brechin developments will eventually be made available as social and affordable housing

Deputy First Minster Kate Forbes welcomed SSEN Transmission investment while on a visit to Stornoway.

She said: "Scotland's enormous renewables capabilities offer an unprecedented opportunity to create jobs and deliver economic growth across our local, regional and national economies for decades to come.

"It is of course vital to ensure that the supporting infrastructure, including housing, is in place to support the workforce and communities that this opportunity presents."

SSEN Transmission's managing director Rob McDonald said: "We are committed to a positive legacy across the north of Scotland from the grid upgrades needed to achieve energy security and clean power.

"These first two announcements of new housing in Stornoway and Brechin are all about turning our determination to deliver into bricks and mortar."

Housing shortage

A shortage of housing has been an issue in both the islands and Angus.

House-building in the Western Isles has been hit by the Covid pandemic and rising costs for materials, according to a report by local authority Comhairle nan Eilean Siar.

It said private sector completions had "reduced dramatically" since the economic downturn of 2007-08, though they recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2021-22 and 2022-23.

But the local authority said house building rates remained at about one third of the rate completed 10 years previously, and construction costs and access to contractors remained "challenging locally".

It also said affordable completions were "derailed" by the Covid pandemic, before 2021-22 saw the highest level of affordable completions since a "building boom" in the Western Isles in the late 1970s and 1980s.

The comhairle's housing strategy includes a target of 310 new homes to be made available in the Western Isles by 2029.

Angus Council, like a number of other Scottish local authorities, declared a housing emergency in June last year due to rising homelessness.

In 2024–25, the local authority received 669 homeless applications - a 16.9% increase on the previous year.

In August, it reported measures it had taken were having positive results.