John Elliott, Managing Director of Millwood Designer Homes discusses the appeal of smaller scale developments and why smaller builders are at heart of building more new UK homes:

The UK residential land market has been traditionally dominated by large developers for years however, research by Savills has revealed a significant rise in the number of small and medium-sized home builders. Providing greater diversity and purchasing more land 89 per cent more plots were sold to small housebuilders and 22 per cent more plots were sold to medium-sized housebuilders in the last year.

The strength of demand from an increasingly wide range and number of developers is becoming more prominent in today’s market. Personally, I believe it is small to medium sized home builders that can bring to fruition the innovative solutions needed to help build more homes. Increased support and funding from the Government to help smaller developers is definitely necessary to keep the market active.

There are certainly many advantages to providing small scale developments across the UK. Traditionally at Millwood, our focus has been on small schemes of individually designed bespoke homes. We aim to create homes that blend seamlessly into their natural surroundings and smaller developments certainly integrate better with the existing setting. In addition, smaller sized homebuilders and developments are generally better received by local communities and councils. Typically, our developments range from a couple homes to certainly under 100 homes on one development.

From our perspective, building smaller sites more regularly, on average delivers homes quicker than on larger sites. Stimulating more output among smaller scale house builders will not only help build thousands of additional homes, but will also help us deliver those homes more quickly. In order to meet strong demand, in the last two years we have increased unit delivery slightly, enabling us to target sites suitable for 50 to 100 homes.

At Millwood, we pride ourselves on being a small house builder and focus all our attention on providing high quality homes rather than quantity. Each development is meticulously planned and designed according to the specific site, drawing inspiration for individual house designs from the local environment. This ultimately ensures they complement and enhance each specially chosen site.

At the heart of everything we do at Millwood, supplying and creating beautiful homes designed to suit their beautiful surroundings is our top priority.

For more information, please visit www.millwooddesignerhomes.co.uk