, there is another part of the conversation that we ensure not to overlook: people are not only choosing a house; they are choosing the place around it.
Working on an active development gives you a close view of how people make that decision. We observe that people are increasingly considering what is beyond their front door as much as what is behind it when making the decision to purchase.
The idea of place is also becoming more nuanced. Connectivity and amenities matter, but so do the less tangible qualities that make somewhere feel established and liveable such as a sense of community, access to green space, and the ability to reach the places that matter in everyday life from shops to schools by foot or public transport. For housebuilders, that means understanding a development as part of a wider local ecosystem and considering how new homes can complement, rather than sit apart from, the communities around them.
At Weavers View in Kennoway, Briar Homes’ first development in Fife, that relationship between home and place is particularly important. For some, the appeal is rooted in familiarity. We see people who already have connections to Kennoway and the surrounding area, including those looking to remain close to family or return to a community they know. For others, a new development can introduce them to somewhere they had not previously considered.
At Weavers View, the reopening of Leven railway station is an important part of that picture. It strengthens connectivity across the area and adds another dimension to the location for people considering where they want to live. Kennoway sits within reach of Leven but also St Andrews and the East Neuk, giving residents access to a wider network, not to mention the pool of world-class golf courses in the area, while retaining the character of a smaller community.
But place can also influence what it is possible to offer within a development. At Weavers View, the space available has allowed us to introduce our first-ever Alder+, a new configuration of Briar Homes’ four-bedroom detached villa, on corner plots at the development. It forms part of a broader mix of house types at Weavers View, now also represented by our second showhome, the three-bedroom semi-detached Ash.
At Kennoway, we’re creating a new neighbourhood with 123 homes, and our housetypes need to reflect the community that will call this home. In the Alder+, the proportions of the home and its fourth bedroom give households choices over how rooms are used, whether that is for family life, working from home, hobbies or changing needs over time. It is a reminder that space has value not only in square footage, but in the options it creates for the people living there.
That same principle applies beyond the walls of the home. A house has to work for the people buying it, but so does the place around it. People choose places, not just properties and the most successful developments recognise the relationship between the two. Infrastructure, community and the physical characteristics of a site all shape what a development can become. Within that wider context, new homes need to respond to how people want to live, while becoming part of the communities and places people have chosen to call home.
Ainslie McCrone is the Sales & Marketing Manager at Briar Homes