SMTS to fore in major contract

A subsidiary of northeast construction firm Stewart Milne Group is to build more than half of the 917 new homes needed for about 4,000 military staff and their families returning to the UK from postings in Germany.

Stewart Milne Timber Systems (SMTS) will build 467 of the houses across two of the three Salisbury Plain sites involved in the mass relocation.

The housebuilding project is part of a £250 million contract awarded to housing-led regeneration experts Lovell by the Ministry of Defence.

SMTS was chosen after a two-stage tender process, with key requirements including a fast build, energy efficiency, adaptability and cost efficiency.

The homes will have an energy performance improvement of 25% over

“This is an exciting housebuilding project”

building regulations.

SMTS sales director Mike Perry said: “This is an exciting housebuilding project for Salisbury Plain and we’re very proud to be associated with it.

“We have a proven method for manufacturing highquality, value-engineered products, consistently on time, and will apply this to meet Lovell’s target of 20 completed homes per week.

“Typical industry pace is delivery of oneto-two homes per week, so it’s a stretching target, but from the outset of this project we have all committed to working openly and collaboratively to ensure the successful completion.”

Lovell director John Leary said: “We have worked successfully with Stewart Milne in the past and have only a positive history.”