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Volume builder unveils new architect inspired house styles

June 23 2014

Volume builder unveils new architect inspired house styles
Mactaggart & Mickel is tapping into the cachet of a quartet of Scotland’s most prominent architects to sell a new housing development at Doonfoot, South Ayrshire.

The house builder has drawn up plans for four new home types inspired by William Adam, James Salmon, Edith Hughes and Thomas Tait to woo buyers to the next phase of its Greenan Views estate.

Incorporating red brickwork facades the properties will see the ‘reintroduction of large scale windows’ last seen in suburban developments from the 1930’s with customised features incorporated to each house. The three-bed semi-detached Hughes for instance will have a feature window running the full height of its central staircase.

Sales and marketing director for Mactaggart & Mickel Homes, Joanne Casey, said: “The new ‘Design Collection’ at Greenan Views will see us extend our portfolio to continue to offer househunters even more choice of stylish, contemporary, efficiently designed homes.

“For that reason it seemed appropriate to name the new house styles in the collection after some of Scotland’s most famous architects who helped set the standard for excellent design.”

The homes were drawn up by Roger Bainbridge, Mactaggart & Mickel’s head of design.
In common with the other properties the 'Tait' has open plan living areas
In common with the other properties the 'Tait' has open plan living areas
The four/five bedroom Adam tops the bill
The four/five bedroom Adam tops the bill

The two-bedroom 'Salmon' is named after the famous Glaswegian architect
The two-bedroom 'Salmon' is named after the famous Glaswegian architect

14 Comments

bibo
#1 Posted by bibo on 23 Jun 2014 at 12:39 PM
well its a massive FAIL from me
A local pleb
#2 Posted by A local pleb on 23 Jun 2014 at 12:56 PM
Yawwwwnnnn....same old same old....they'll sell but where's they wow factor?
Ellah
#3 Posted by Ellah on 23 Jun 2014 at 14:07 PM
M+M should look at their own back catalogue. In the 60s they actually produced really good homes. They were modern and confident. Whilst these are an improvement than usual, I wouldn't say they were architecturally inspired, rather a spruce up of existing. I reckon they could actually do something really clever that pays homage to their past. These almost do it, but need refined. Their homes in areas of Newton Mearns are actually very distinctive and I believe will be very valuable examples of mid 20th C housing in the future. They are a good brand and need to get back to their roots.
CADMonkey
#4 Posted by CADMonkey on 23 Jun 2014 at 16:28 PM
haha...I found this article quite funny.
Robert
#5 Posted by Robert on 23 Jun 2014 at 17:03 PM
An impressive creative leap on behalf of the marketing people. The architects in question will be spinning in their graves!

Maybe for their next development they can use the names of living architects - e.g. a generic spec kit house called the Richard Murphy or the Malcolm Fraser. Love it.
RJ
#6 Posted by RJ on 24 Jun 2014 at 14:22 PM
"Inspired by" $architect? Difficult to see how. How depressing.
A.Pathy
#7 Posted by A.Pathy on 24 Jun 2014 at 14:34 PM
Well ....at least the hedges can grow high
Walt Disney
#8 Posted by Walt Disney on 24 Jun 2014 at 15:54 PM
Architects.....away back to your Richard Murphy identikit kitchen extensions.
murray
#9 Posted by murray on 24 Jun 2014 at 21:48 PM
Oh dear oh dear. I join everyone else in saying its a massive fail. Isee the same timber frame design work simply just reclad in a new facade. That's what happens when you take over a timber kit company.You get stuck with wanting to maximise your investment in standard frames. Most volume builders seem to be heading in the same direction including CALA who's infill of the former commercial site at Dunblane highlights this perfectly against the previous phase. Simple stupid and cheap house design.
M+M can do retro stuff .Good ness they originated really good 30s designs themselves. This isn't that. Andrew needs to go back to the drawing board.Charles McKean's book shows that they started with good stuff and could dip back to their own stuff and rework it if they really tried.
Egbert
#10 Posted by Egbert on 25 Jun 2014 at 08:39 AM
Not sure why everyone else on here has such a downer on this - while hardly revolutionary these are still a massive improvement on the current housebuilder 'offer'. And at least they're not beige! Here's hoping this admittedly timid step into the 20th century will give the lie to that developer canard, 'modern doesn't sell in Scotland', and encourage the other usual-suspect housebuilders to be a little bolder.
boaby wan
#11 Posted by boaby wan on 25 Jun 2014 at 11:37 AM
where is the "massive improvement"?!
These are standard house-types tarted up... badly
M&M obviously have never heard the phrase 'you can't polish a turd'
Worrying that these were drawn up by a "head of design", it may be time for a recruitment drive
JohnMF
#12 Posted by JohnMF on 25 Jun 2014 at 18:08 PM
The word "inspired" is surely misused. These historic architects' names are just being hi-jacked by M & M's marketing department.
Francis Cordiner
#13 Posted by Francis Cordiner on 26 Jun 2014 at 09:01 AM
Whats that noise ? Robert Adam spinning in his grave. They should have just stuck to the usual house builders names like 'the Marlborough' or actually had a look at work by the said architects and make an effort. Sad.
CADmonkey
#14 Posted by CADmonkey on 27 Jun 2014 at 11:50 AM
How about "The CADMonkey"?

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