Paul Kelly

SMEs like ours build homes but we also sustain local supply chains, create skilled jobs, and invest directly into the communities in which we work.

At AS Homes (Scotland) and Briar Homes, we have seen first-hand the difference a growing SME can make. As a family-run, Glasgow-based business with more than 20 years’ experience in private and community-focused affordable housebuilding, we have grown steadily by focusing on quality, relationships and long-term value.

In recent years, we have expanded eastwards and strengthened our presence across Central Scotland, with active developments in Glasgow, East Renfrewshire, North Lanarkshire, and our first development in Kennoway, Fife. As a result we now have the most active sites in our history and we are also exploring new opportunities in Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. Our growth is not speculative, it is rooted in demand, in strong partnerships, and in a belief that well-designed private and affordable housing developments play a crucial role in meeting Scotland’s wider housing needs.

The data underlines the importance of supporting SME builders. Research highlighted by Homes for Scotland shows that small and medium-sized home builders once delivered the majority of Scotland’s new homes. Today, their market share has fallen significantly. Yet SMEs are often the businesses best placed to develop smaller, more complex or brownfield sites, the very sites that can regenerate communities and bring stalled land back into productive use. If we are serious about tackling Scotland’s housing emergency, we must create the conditions for SMEs to thrive.

Housebuilding’s positive social and economic impact is well documented. Every new home built supports jobs across construction, manufacturing, professional services and the wider economy. It generates tax revenue and delivers infrastructure contributions to education, open space and local services. Importantly, private housing developments frequently unlock affordable housing provision, either through planning obligations or by making sites viable in the first place. There is sometimes a narrative that affordable and private housing sit in opposition, in reality, they are interdependent.

We welcome the ambition behind the Scottish Government’s More Homes Scotland agenda and the proposed new national housing agency. The commitment to “simplicity, scale and speed” is encouraging. However, as it will be some years before that agency is fully operational, we must not lose sight of the immediate barriers holding back delivery today.

Chief among these is the slow and increasingly complex planning system and the ever decreasing supply of viable and deliverable land.

Whilst we empathise with resource constraints in local planning authorities, across Scotland, the planning process has become more protracted and resource-intensive. Additional reports, regulatory checks and rising contribution requirements from education to healthcare are often layered onto projects while we continue to face cost inflation in materials and labour, placing further pressure on viability. The cumulative effect can render otherwise sustainable sites undeliverable. Unlocking land and securing timely planning consents now is essential if we are to increase housing output in 2026 and beyond.

At AS Homes and Briar Homes we have the willingness and capacity to build more. We are proud champions of sustainability, prioritising brownfield sites in high-need areas and embedding energy-efficient design across our developments. Through our work with Housing Growth Partnership, we are helping to increase the number of new homes delivered while supporting the regional development community and we have secured roles on a number of housing association frameworks.

Our ambition for 2026 is to build more as we strengthen our geographic reach, grow our land pipeline, and maintain a healthy database of buyers. But ambition alone is not enough. Scotland needs a policy and planning environment that recognises the essential role of SME builders and actively supports them.

If we want to see thriving neighbourhoods, increased affordable housing supply and sustained economic growth, we must back the businesses that are ready to deliver. SMEs are not peripheral to Scotland’s housing solution, we are central to it. With pragmatic support to unlock sites, streamline planning and ensure viability, companies like ours can do even more to meet Scotland’s housing needs in 2026 and beyond.

• Paul Kelly is managing director of AS Homes Scotland and Briar Homes