Double Award in a Day for Design Team

John Gilbert Architects is celebrating TWO awards for its new sustainable housing project set in the Cairngorms National Park.

28/10/09

Creagan Gorm cottages at Glenmore has won Sustainable Smaller Social Housing Project of the Year at Inside Housing’s Sustainable Housing Awards 2009 and a bronze award for sustainable design at the Roses Design Awards.

The winners were announced on Friday 23 October at ceremonies in Nottingham and London.

The two timber homes for Albyn Housing Association provide affordable housing with sustainable features including rainwater harvesting, higher levels of insulation and multi-fuel store to heat the main rooms.  The project is a pilot scheme to maximise the use of Scottish timber and minimise energy use throughout construction and occupation of the houses.

Architect Matt Bridgestock said: “We are absolutely delighted to receive two awards for the same project on the same day. 

"This is a credit to the entire design team - contractors McLeod Building, engineers Fairhurst and Partners and quantity surveyors Armour and Partners - who have all worked together to bring sustainable, affordable housing to rural Scotland.  We hope this design becomes the model for future rural social housing development.”

Materials, such as recycled newspaper insulation, were chosen for their low environmental impact and manufacturers were located on a map to ensure as local a supply chain as practical. The structure, cladding and sundry timber was principally sourced from Scotland and all are Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC) approved.

Sustainable Housing Awards judges commented:
“This is not just environmental box ticking: sensitive and interesting.”
“You’d want to live there - it has design quality as well as locally based sustainability and innovative use of local materials.”
“It was creating a place, it talked about real people as well as being very good to the environment.”
Creagan Gorm cottages are on a brownfield site in an ecologically sensitive area in the national park, therefore great care was taken to minimise tree felling and impact on the local ecosystem.  Squirrel and ant surveys were undertaken by Scottish National Heritage prior to work on site.

Local arboriculturalists SAS for Trees oversaw the development to ensure the enhancement of the surrounding forest.  New, native trees were mixed with existing mature trees to give a cohesive canopy around the houses, thus maintaining the forest setting.