IN Brief:
- Cala Homes (West) has begun enabling works at Blyth Gardens following completion of its planning agreement with Renfrewshire Council.
- The 75-home development comprises 57 private houses and 18 affordable apartments designed for older residents.
- Groundworks are under way, with the first residents expected from summer 2027, subject to the remaining construction programme.
Cala Homes (West) has begun enabling works at its Blyth Gardens housing development in Erskine after completing a Section 75 planning agreement with Renfrewshire Council and securing final permission for the scheme. The project will deliver 75 homes on land off the Florish Road roundabout at the eastern edge of the town, beside Cala’s existing Gilchrist Gardens neighbourhood.
The development comprises 57 private homes and 18 affordable apartments. Cala’s private housing mix includes three-bedroom terraced properties, three- and four-bedroom townhouses, and four- and five-bedroom detached houses. The affordable apartments are intended as elderly amenity housing, designed to support independent living for older people. The release does not identify an affordable housing provider, construction contract value or detailed unit specification for those apartments.
Renfrewshire Council had previously indicated that it was minded to grant permission, with the legal agreement still outstanding. Cala now says the Section 75 agreement has been concluded and final consent granted, enabling physical preparation to begin. That sequence is different from reporting an initial committee resolution or claiming that the full housing estate has reached construction completion.
The announced works are enabling works and groundworks, not the handover of finished houses. They prepare the site for the subsequent foundations, roads, utilities and housebuilding activity, although Cala has not specified the exact earthworks, drainage design, foundation choices or plant being deployed. Without a published method statement, those elements cannot be attributed to the project as installed technologies.
Blyth Gardens adjoins Cala’s Gilchrist Gardens neighbourhood, where the developer says it has delivered around 40 homes a year for five years. Construction beside completed housing involves separating site traffic and work areas from occupied routes and maintaining safe access as infrastructure is extended. The material published for Blyth Gardens does not specify whether the two developments share utility connections, adopted roads or construction entrances, so those physical interfaces remain unresolved publicly.
The site lies off the Florish Road roundabout and near the Sandieland Woodland to its south. The plans incorporate green space, a children’s play area and features intended to support wildlife, including hedgehog-friendly fencing and invertebrate bricks. These elements form part of the proposed built environment and landscape design, rather than measurable evidence that specified biodiversity improvements have already been achieved.
Hedgehog-friendly fencing is designed to retain passage between garden boundaries, while the proposed invertebrate bricks provide habitat for some insects when installed in suitable positions. Cala also proposes a play area and green space linking towards Sandieland Woodland. The features are design commitments; the announcement provides neither an ecological monitoring baseline nor measured evidence of improved species numbers.
The 18 affordable apartments have been described as elderly amenity housing rather than a care home or an assisted-living service with an identified operator. Graham McNeil, land director at Cala Homes (West), said the apartments were designed specifically for older residents. Their requirements differ from the larger private houses in circulation, shared building elements and accessibility, although the published scheme does not set out detailed lifts, fire systems or care provision.
The mix of terraced houses, townhouses, detached homes and apartments creates different site and building interfaces. Apartment blocks need common circulation and service distribution, while individual houses have their own plot boundaries and service connections. Ground levels, road and footway completion, drainage and utilities must be coordinated with the sequence of house handovers, but Cala has not published a detailed plot-by-plot construction programme.
The affordable element represents 18 of the 75 planned properties, or 24% by unit count. Unlike the private family houses, these apartments have been designed to provide independent accommodation for older residents. The reported housing mix does not disclose their final tenure arrangements, the registered social landlord involved or a separate completion date for the affordable component.
The first homeowners are expected to move in from summer 2027. That forecast provides a near-term programme marker, but it is not a confirmed completion date for every dwelling or for the full affordable housing component. The sequence between enabling works, main housebuilding, internal roads, landscape works and handover has not been set out publicly in sufficient detail to attach individual completion dates.
Groundworks are now under way and the first buyers are expected to move in from summer 2027, according to Cala. That is a forecast for initial occupation rather than a certified end date for the entire development. The subsequent sequence of housebuilding, apartment delivery, roads and landscaping remains subject to the construction programme and conditions of the final planning permission.
