I doubt there’s a single business that hasn’t been impacted by this last year. I despair with friends (virtually) in the hospitality and events industries whose businesses have been all but obliterated, by the virus, so I recognize that we in construction have, to some extent, been fortunate.
There have been difficulties, restricted practices, funding issues and not everyone has made it this far but some of the more creative and resilient businesses have found solutions to keeping their staff and suppliers employed and the economy open. This could well have been a time when smaller developers hit pause, just sat on assets, or curled up in a ball throwing in the towel altogether, and some have, but not all and I’d like to offer a nod of recognition to those who have kept things going.
Whilst, within this our first year of trading, we haven’t been exposed to the broadest sector of the market, we have been fortunate to be able to support a growing number of clients who chose to keep their doors open and find ways forward.
So out of darkness comes a first glimmer of dawn with this, one of our earliest projects, preparing to start on site in March. Lanhern is the first project, on this scale, for a local developer who kept going. The project will see this arts and crafts villa sub-divided to form two new homes and the construction of two new detached, four-bedroom homes within the grounds. Not yet available to the market this eclectic development will create a mix of homes with grand proportions and retained historic features alongside contemporary houses designed to be reflective and complimentary bookends. I’ll leave the agents to write the sales copy but we’re proud to have contributed to keeping this project alive and getting to this point.
This is the first of three similarly scaled projects we’re bringing forward and expect to be on site before the summer so, join me in celebrating the little things. Perhaps not front-line heroes but the building contractors, developers and construction professionals who have adapted and kept this industry working are, for me, creating a little light in dark times. This crisis will pass and even small projects like these show the South West property industry is open for investment and is leading the way into a bright future.