50 Years of Building Futures: 2024 in Review

The Scottish construction industry has faced significant challenges over the last 12 months, but despite a steep shift in our economic landscape, CCG and our subsidiary companies have remained resolute. From inward investment into our product and people, to our philosophy of partnership working and direct client engagement, 2024 has taught us that if we are to achieve sustainable growth, we cannot stand still. So, let’s look at what we have achieved during our 50th year of business…

Doubling down on partnership working

Scotland is currently facing a housing emergency, with challenges most acute in the Affordable Housing sector. Project viability has been significantly impacted by a combination of reduced funding, rising inflationary pressures, and enhanced building standards, all of which have created substantial barriers to development.

2024 has highlighted that direct appointment and early contractor engagement are effective strategies for mitigating these challenges. For many years, CCG has demonstrated that delivering best value comes from being involved at the earliest stages, with in-house expertise supporting a project’s delivery from concept to completion.

This integrated approach reduces risk and drives time savings— without compromising quality— while a fostered approach to collaboration with both the client and our supply chain partners ensures value engineering is embedded throughout the process, leading to cost savings and more positive project outcomes.

Procurement? CCG holds a strong position across public frameworks such as (SPA) Scottish Procurement Alliance and Scotland Excel - as well as those via our clients and development partners such as Hub South West - which streamline procurement processes and further help to create pre-construction cost and time savings.

This year has seen notable project commencements, including multiple developments procured through Scotland Excel in West Dunbartonshire. A highlight is Pappert in Bonhill—West Dunbartonshire Council’s first-ever development to adopt a Passivhaus-accredited build standard for 6 dwellings, with the remaining 20 adopting CCG's 'Net Zero Home' standard with the addition of solar battery storage units for each plot.

We have also had notable completions such as the 96-home Castlehill Road in Gowkthrapple, Wishaw, for North Lanarkshire Council which was delivered in collaboration with hub South West and their own public services framework.

Partnership working and the use of streamlined procurement processes are not restricted to new build construction projects. CCG reached a 2-year milestone with South Lanarkshire Council earlier in the year with our ￡10m, multi-phase fire door replacement programme – procured via SPA - which has, so far, seen 2700 enhanced FD60 fire door sets installed over 1700 high-rise residences since 2022 on an entirely supply and fit basis.

Sustainability: It’s What We Do

CCG is recognised as an industry leader in sustainable development, driven by our pioneering approach to offsite Modern Methods of Construction. We have consistently taken a forward-thinking approach to building standards, preparing for the New Build Heat Standard—introduced in April 2024—as early as 2017 with the development of the CCG Net Zero Home. This standard, designed to address operational net zero carbon through enhanced fabric measures and zero-emissions heating, has since become mainstream and adopted by clients across Scotland such as The City of Edinburgh Council at Granton Station View.

Forming part of the Edinburgh Home Demonstrator Initiative and the wider, ￡1,3bn Granton Waterfront Regeneration, Station View is the largest entirely non-gas development CCG has delivered to date with handovers beginning on-site during the autumn.

We’ve already highlighted Passivhaus—and it was with great pride that we handed over Scotland’s largest Passivhaus (Classic)-accredited development to West of Scotland Housing Association earlier this year. The 90-home project forms part of the Dundashill Regeneration Masterplan and is situated right next door to another CCG development known as Maltings Wynd. Comprising 78 A-rated family homes for sale developed for igloo Regeneration, the project has been one of the most sought-after choices for homebuyers in Glasgow, and it was great to welcome the first residents earlier in the summer.

Our commitment to sustainability was recognised on three occasions in 2024. West of Scotland HA’s Dundashill Plot 3A won both the Herald Property for Scotland and Scottish Home Award for ‘Excellence in Sustainability’, while CCG was honoured with the People | Place | Planet Homes for Scotland Award, which celebrated our comprehensive ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) credentials across all areas of our business.

Further highlighting our commitment, we recently released pioneering research into Whole-Life Carbon in collaboration with Carbon Futures. This research goes beyond emissions that are generated from a newly built home that is in use and, instead, examines how we can significantly reduce carbon emissions across every stage of the home’s lifecycle.

The research is one of the most advanced ever seen in the UK and you can find more information about it here >>> CCG Scotland & unveils results of Whole-Life Carbon Assessment | CCG

Addressing Scotland’s ageing population

Through an innovative joint venture company, CCG and Morrison Community Care Group (MCCG) have really made waves in the care sector with 3 site starts and 1 completion in 2024. Operating across the breadth of the country, we take brownfield land and transform it into wonderful facilities that offer best-in-class residential, nursing, and dementia care services for people over the age of 65.

Our work this year has taken us to Glasgow, Perth, Midlothian, and Edinburgh, whilst Almond Valley Care Home, West Lothian, is now a much-valued addition to the West Lothian community after being formally handed over this summer.

Each project is delivered by the might of the CCG Group with main construction services, timber systems, windows & doors, utilities, M&E, and flooring installation all provided in-house. More developments will be underway in 2025, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with MCCG and our design team partners who are helping tackle the growing demand for modern, elderly accommodation and safeguarding our NHS.

Skills, Skills, and More Skills

At CCG, our commitment to skills development and replenishment is unwavering. Young people represent the future of our industry, and our workforce is the lifeblood of our business. To ensure we continue delivering for our clients, we prioritise planning for the future by creating new opportunities and offering continuous professional development to our staff.

A significant milestone was our annual apprentice intake, with 10 trade apprentices joining the CCG Group in August. These young people came to us from communities across the country, bringing our total number of apprentices to 48 employed across our business, but our work didn't stop there...

In 2024 alone, we created 56 new jobs and facilitated 75 work placements, while our community benefits team undertook 58 curriculum support activities. These activities aim to raise awareness of careers in construction among high school pupils, school leavers, college students, and unemployed individuals and are crucial to stimulating interest in our industry.

We undertook many career fairs and hosted various site tours, whilst our participation in Developing the Young Workforce Glasgow’s Construction Awareness Sessions - which provide valuable insights into the working environment - and our support for the social enterprise Move On’s employability and training programmes in Edinburgh, really helped to reach out to our young audience.

A Legacy Beyond the Site Boundary

Housing-led regeneration has the power to create lasting value for communities. While providing warm, affordable homes remains the primary focus, we must also consider the enduring impact we can leave beyond the immediate site, which is again achieved by the excellent work of our community benefit team.

One of our most cherished examples is our partnership with Oaklands School in Edinburgh. Launched in 2023 and linked to our obligations in the delivery of the 444-home Western Villages - Scotland’s largest net-zero-ready residential development - the community benefit team has supported Oaklands through a variety of measures, including in-class and on-site sensory sessions and upgrades to a woodland area on the school campus.

Following a specially-created Outdoor Awareness Week in May, Oaklands shared their gratitude:

“The support from CCG has been so appreciated. Our pupils face challenges in every aspect of their lives and so to have the support from community partners who are willing to get stuck in and help devise ways to mitigate some of these is truly invaluable.”

CCG extends our heartfelt gratitude to our people, clients, and partners—past and present—for their support over the last 50 years. We look forward to continuing our journey and #BuildingFutures together for the next 50 years more...