Community-led regeneration in Skye wins national award

The new community-owned housing, health and business development in Staffin, Skye, has won the ‘Excellence in Regeneration and Sustainability’ category at the Chartered Institute of Housing’s Scotland Housing Awards 2022.

The award ceremony was held last week in Glasgow, and this award recognises the importance of revitalising communities and neighbourhoods in order to make a real difference in people’s lives.

The development in Staffin was led by Staffin Community Trust, with support from the Communities Housing Trust. Lochalsh and Skye Housing Association were a further partner.

​The project sought to help repopulate and regenerate the community which had suffered a 6.6% population drop in four years.
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The resulting development includes six affordable homes with three different tenures, as well as a new community-owned NHS health centre, and business and workshop units, helping to improve access to rural services and boost the local economy.

Cutting the turf with Kate Forbes MSP, Aug 2020. Credit: SCT

Site progress, March 2021. Credit: Iain Cumming

One of the homes, designed and built by Skye firms

The new NHS health centre. Credit: SCT

Families move in, Feb 2022. Credit: SCT

The development in Sept 2022. Credit: Hugh Campbell

Families moved into the six homes at Taighean a' Chaiseil (Houses of the Weir) earlier this year, which were designed and built by Skye-based firms Rural Design and James MacQueen Building Contractors Ltd.

Income from the properties and commercial space will allow Staffin Community Trust to maintain the development, and any surplus will be invested in further community projects.

The project received funding from the Scottish Land Fund, Rural & Islands Housing Fund, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, SSE Sustainable Development, LEADER, Quaker Housing Trust, the Ecology Building Society and a crowdfunding campaign.

Ronnie MacRae, CEO of the Communities Housing Trust, said: “Congratulations to everyone in the Staffin community for driving this forward – a great achievement! This project looks holistically at sustainability – not only housing the community for future generations, but also making sure there is access to services, and that local businesses have opportunities to grow or establish themselves. This is what a community-led approach can do, and we’re delighted that it’s been recognised by CIH at a national level and that it continues to be supported by the Scottish Government.”

More detail on this project and all shortlisted entries for the Scotland Housing Awards can be found in the Chartered Institute of Housing’s 2022 Good Practice Compendium.