Planning consent was granted in August 2018 for 44 new build houses and flats at the site.

The team at Caerlee Mill has worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic to not only ensure that it had a robust COVID-secure plan to return to work, when allowed to do so by the Scottish Government, but also to two of its customers to move-in during the very first few days of lockdown when many property transactions were unable to proceed.

Despite the challenging time, the restart of production, customers moving-in and Caerlee Mill making the final stages of the Scottish Homes Awards in two categories, the developer felt this was the perfect time to showcase the style, quality and craftmanship the development offers within Mr Mundell’s constituency.

Roger Bainbridge explained: “The months of lockdown were challenging for all businesses, and Mr Mundell was incredibly supportive of trying to get the construction industry back working as soon as it was safe and possible to do so. His visit is an opportunity for him to see first-hand the progress that we are making in the transformation of the Mill site, as well as our COVID-secure measures that we have in place to ensure the safety of our customers, staff, suppliers and the local community.”

The vision for the Caerlee Mill development, in the heart of the thriving Borders village of Innerleithen, is to deliver a range of two, three and four-bedroom houses and cottage flats, which are designed to reflect the spirit of the former mill site, as well as the heritage of the village structure. The development is already bursting to life and 75% of properties are now sold and occupied or fully reserved, and work to complete the remaining homes is well underway.

Caerlee Mill also makes a positive contribution to the local economy by using Scottish suppliers and tradespeople, including two directly employed members of the team from Innerleithen and its primary materials supplier is based in Galashiels.

Mr Mundell, MP for Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale welcomed progress with the Caerlee Mill development.

He said: “This has been an extraordinarily difficult year because of the challenges of Covid-19 and I was delighted when work resumed again at the site after the lengthy lockdown of the Scottish construction industry.

“This welcome development for Innerleithen will cater for households of various sizes living in beautifully designed surroundings and reflects well on Whiteburn, their architects and the craftspeople who are working here.

“My hope is that Caerlee Mill will benefit the wider Innerleithen economy, enhance an already strong sense of community and reflect the heritage of such a well-situated town.”

In conjunction with the launch of the new-build housing for sale, Whiteburn continues to explore economically viable solutions for the B- listed Brodie’s Mill building which dates back to 1778 and is in discussions with potential end users.