2025 MASTER BUILDER AWARDS
Sustainable Building Award — Spey Building & Joinery Ltd
Project overview Inspired by the Nordic tradition of remote summerhouses, huts and cabins, the project embraced timber structures that sit lightly on Scotland’s remote and environmentally sensitive landscapes. The design aimed to meet stringent RIBA 2030 Climate Challenge standards. Project highlights The remoteness and sensitivity of the site make this project unique, influencing every aspect of design and construction. The surrounding land is designated as a National Nature Reserve, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), a Special Area of Conservation, and a National Scenic Area. The nearest main road lies over a mile away via a single-track route, and the coastline is frequently battered by winds exceeding 100mph. The house was designed to minimise environmental impacts, including: ● the structure being constructed almost entirely from engineered timber, much of which was prefabricated off-site; ● large windows divided into smaller components to be lifted manually; ● minimal use of concrete, with prefabricated pads supporting the building to eliminate waste and avoid potential on-site pollution; ● using a single material – oak- veneered panels – for lining internally, eliminating the need for nearly all wet trades; and
● sustainable systems such as a heat-recovery ventilation system, solar water heating panels, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels with battery storage, and a system for recycling heat from shower drains. Challenges that were overcome There were technical and physical challenges in trying to mitigate the environmental impacts during the construction and over the lifetime of the building. For example, the house was constructed to Passive House levels of insulation and airtightness, using triple glazing throughout. A mix of healthier wood fibre and mineral wool alternatives were used for insulation materials to avoid high embodied-energy plastic insulation.
The building has been designed to sit above the ground on short steel posts, avoiding the need for deep excavations or lots of concrete. What little concrete was required was kept to an absolute minimum, using small prefabricated (off- site) construction. Constructed from a combination of engineered timber, much of the structure was prefabricated off-site, resulting in high carbon sequestration and a very low embodied energy building. From the judges ● “This project considers all aspects of sustainable design, from embodied and ecological impact, to operational energy use.” ● “A wonderful achievement in a challenging location.”
Sustainable Building Award sponsored by
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