Ministerial visit

Housing Minister Impressed with the continued good work of the Association.

The Minister for housing & welfare Margaret Burgess MSP was in Shetland recently and during her visit took time to meet the staff and tenants at the Associations HUB Project before going on to visit some of the new housing schemes currently under development. The Minister was delighted to see the continued support the HUB project is providing for young people leaving care and wished the staff and tenants every success in the future.

The new build development 'Excelsior Place' was the next stop and during the visit the Minister was shown around a few of the seventeen flats due for completion in the summer of 2014 and took a particular interest in the layout and design features being provided.

Following a stop at the new SIC housing schemes Hillgrind & Cruester View the Minister was taken out to Tingwall to visit the new build scheme 'Gaet-A-Gott' comprising of forty new homes also due for completion in the summer of next year. Hjaltlands Property Services Manager Paul Leask highlighted a number of design features to the Minister including the use of Mechanical Ventilation with Heat Recovery, heat pumps and Dimplex hot water cylinders (linked to the NINES project) which combined will provide a highly efficient and healthly living environment for the new tenants.

The Minister was impressed with the standard of porperties being contstructed and congratulated the Association on its continued success in providing high quality homes for the Shetland Community. Paul Leask commented "it was a great opportunity to show the Minister first hand all the hard work that goes into the provision of new homes in Shetland and discuss the challenges associated with this".

The recent tour of Gaet-A-Gott by Margaret Burgess MSP was actually the second time a Scottish Housing Minister has visited the site following Keith Browns visit back in July 2012.