Three firms to build homes on former munitions site

DEFENCE giant BAE Systems has signed up three builders for the first phase of its project to turn a former munitions factory near Glasgow into a housing development.

In the largest brownfield redevelopment in Britain, 2,500 houses along with a school, library and leisure facilities will be built on the site of the old Royal Ordnance Factory in Bishopton.

BAE has already invested £32 million in cleaning up the land and preparing primary roads and services. Now Cala, Persimmon and Taylor Wimpey have been signed up to build 600 homes in the first stage of development, scheduled to start in September. Homes are expected to go on sale next year.

Audrey Ross, sales and marketing director for Taylor Wimpey West Scotland, said the plan would create “a new way of living” in Bishopton. “The scope of Taylor Wimpey’s proposed plans will ensure there’s a wide choice of homes to suit a broad range of buyers,” she added.

Persimmon said it thought houses in the development would be in “high demand”. Cala said it would build luxury homes.

The full project will take 15 years to complete and is expected to create around 4,000 jobs during that time.

Lynda Johnstone, Bishopton project director for BAE, said: “The multi-million pound regeneration programme will see high-quality homes in the area and deliver a new community, which alongside the housing development will include a new primary school, library, community centre, leisure facilities and woodland park to complement the existing friendly, close-knit village feel of Bishopton.”

The factory at Bishopton was set up in the build-up to the Second World War and during the conflict employed 20,000 people. It was privatised in the 1980s and carried on producing munitions until 2000.