Work begins on £23.94 million Fort William housing development

Work has begun on a new £23.94 million affordable housing development in Upper Achintore, Fort William, partly funded by The Highland Council.

The Link development, which marks the start of a five-zone masterplan to build over 300 homes in the area. This first phase of development will deliver 82 affordable homes, a mix of one to four-bedroom homes for social and mid-market rent, and New Supply Shared Equity sale. Five of these homes will be fully wheelchair accessible. 

Link Group Commercial Director Colin Culross said: “We look forward to working with our partners, JR Construction (Scotland) Ltd, WGC Scotland Ltd and TSL Contractors Ltd, to deliver these new, affordable and sustainable homes to the area, improving housing choices for the local community.

“In addition, we aim to provide 32 employment opportunities for local people through our contractors as part of our commitment to community benefit in procurement.

“We would also like to thank the Scottish Government and Highland Council for supporting this exciting new development by providing funding of £12.8 million £2 million respectively.”

Highland Council Leader, Cllr Margaret Davidson, said: “It is very good to see work begin on the Upper Achintore development, which will provide much-needed, sustainable and affordable homes for people in Fort William

“The £2m greener infrastructure investment by Highland Council underlines the local authority’s commitment to enable developers to get moving with infrastructure to enable housing sites to progress.”

Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Local Government and Housing, Shona Robison said: “We want everyone to have a safe, warm affordable home that meets their needs. 

“I am delighted that the Scottish Government has been able to provide £12.8 million to support the delivery of these 82 high-quality, energy efficient affordable homes for rent and ownership in the Fort William area.”

There will be a phased programme of handovers with completion of the homes targeted for April 2024.

Highland Council's investment in this development is very much part of its ongoing campaign - #BuildingOurFutureHighland.

Building Our Future Highland has been launched by The Highland Council to keep residents and wider public informed on the progress of works for the re-profiled capital programme’s education and Council property projects across Highland.

The dedicated hashtag #BuildingOurFutureHighland will be used on social media to promote the local authority’s completed, ongoing and future building and property projects. The hashtag will help users to quickly locate relevant press releases, photographs, videos and other engaging content for projects on busy social media feeds.

As well as a dedicated webpage and hashtag, an interactive Google map (external link) has been created to showcase the scale and progress of works across the region, highlighting the crucial work of officers within the Housing and Property and Education committees.