Stewart Milne Group, the leading UK independent house builder and manufacturer of timber systems, and their Director of Special Projects, Jim Fitzsimons have joined the call on property developers to do more to improve the terrible digital infrastructure in Scotland. Stewart Milne Group have been doing their part at a new £800 million town located to the west of Aberdeen, installing ultrafast fibre optic broadband while working on the more traditional infrastructure, such as gas, electrics and drainage.
There are a large number of areas around Scotland that have woeful connection to broadband and it is agreed by a number of different companies and groups that the initiatives that have been put forward, both locally and nationally are not enough to significantly improve the digital infrastructure in Scotland.
Countesswells is the new town development west of Aberdeen and has been fitted with ultrafast broadband that is thought to be 35x faster that the UK average. This town will be the first community in Scotland to have access to 1Gbps, and no doubt the properties created as a part of this development will be snapped up due to this unique and beneficial selling point. Countesswells internet connection will mean that a 4k movie that would typically take eight hours to download will take just over ten minutes with 1Gbps speeds.
Ultrafast connectivity can offer opportunities to grow existing businesses by attracting further investment, and creating new businesses. These opportunities can then improve Scotland’s attractiveness as a place to live and work for future generations that are learning how to make the most of business and living opportunities with the support of a strong internet connection.
By installing broadband alongside the other groundworks infrastructure, the communities that are being developed are becoming future-proofed. It is thought that this future proofing could take place to such an extent that households have direct links to services that are provided on site such as schools and health centres. This means that there could be an increase in services such as home consultations.
