During a recent visit to local house builder A&J Stephen’s Guildtown development local Perthshire North MSP John Swinney was updated on the trends and outlook for new house building both in Perthshire and the wider region.

The visit was hosted by Managing Director John Stephen, who updated the local constituency MSP on the development at Guildtown and the company’s broader outlook in the short and medium term.

Commenting after the visit John Swinney said:

‘’I’m thankful to John Stephen for taking the time to show me around the company’s development at Guildtown. This will be another characteristically well finished Stephen development which is appropriate for such a prominent site at the north entrance to the village.

“A&J Stephen has a long history of building excellent homes in Perthshire and this visit helped me understand a little more about how they have earned their reputation for exceptional detail and quality.

“This has been a difficult period in the economic cycle for house builders, their suppliers and employees. I hope very much the recent upturn in development continues and I wish A&J Stephen every further success going forward.”

John Stephen added:               

“‘We are delighted to be making a start with our building works here at Guildtown and appreciate that Mr Swinney was able to find time in his busy schedule to visit our Oakbank development.

“The timing of the visit was opportune given the Scottish Government’s announcement to extend the Help to Buy (Scotland) initiative for a further three years.  This initiative should assist aspiring home owners to move to Oakbank where prices start at approx. £147,000.”

Notes to Editors: More info on Help to Buy Scotland is available here - http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Built-Environment/Housing/BuyingSelling/help-to-buy

Pictured Left to Right are: Managing Director John Stephen, John Swinney MSP and Development Director Bruce Gordon-Strachan.