Mactaggart and Mickel is celebrating 75 years in the housebuilding industry

SCOTTISH housebuilder Mactaggart and Mickel celebrates its 75th anniversary this month.

The company is known for flagship developments such as the Broom estate in Glasgow's Newton Mearns and Silverknowes in Edinburgh. It built no fewer than 8260 houses between 1926 and 1933, and was involved in well-known corporation housing estates such as Knightswood and Carntyne.

Director Derek Mickel says: ''Seventy-five years in business is an incredible achievement for any company and we are especially proud that Mactaggart and Mickel has retained its family links over the years.''

The company commenced trading as a Limited Company on March 11, 1925, from premises in Glasgow's Bath Street. However, its roots are in the nineteenth century, when Robert Mickel, a timber merchant living in Linlithgow, expanded his business and moved into house building in the 1880s.

John Mactaggart joined Robert Mickel's firm around this time as a clerk, and rose to the post of chief accountant.

Mactaggart left to form his own company and then teamed up with Andrew Mickel, Robert Mickel's nephew, and they eventually went on to create the company now known as Mactaggart and Mickel.

Through the 1930s the company developed sites throughout the South Side of Glasgow. Their interest was fuelled by advertisements in The Glasgow Herald - unusual for house builders at the time.

Today, the company has sites throughout central Scotland and Ayrshire.

For information on all Mactaggart and Mickel's developments, telephone: 0141 332 0001.