Situated in the Wester Ross village of Gairloch sits the development of Achtercairn.
Communities Housing Trust (CHT) led the project with the local community, to transform the former derelict site in the centre of the village into a mixed development, combining affordable homes with social, commercial, education and training needs.
Communities Housing Trust (CHT) led the project with the local community, to transform the former derelict site in the centre of the village into a mixed development, combining affordable homes with social, commercial, education and training needs.
The development incorporates 25 homes which have been delivered in two phases by CHT, Albyn Housing Association and the Highland Council. The home tenures include social rent, low cost home ownership, and rent to buy. The homes are highly energy-efficient and built with sustainable materials.
The new tourist information hub is a timber building – the first public building in Scotland to be awarded Passivhaus status – run by Gairloch & Loch Ewe Action forum (GALE), a social enterprise. The building helps create a focal point to the village, encouraging visitors to stop, and attracts over 40,000 visitors per year. It incorporates a community cafe and shop, with growing space supplying the cafe, where cafe waste is also composted.
> Read more about how this development is helping to address the climate crisis here.
The thriving Gairloch Farm Shop is also on-site, popular with both locals and visitors, and they also provide space for the local vet surgery, who were previously housed in inappropriate accommodation, allowing a key local service to continue.
The development also includes facilities for learning and skills development in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) and the Air Training Corps, which would otherwise not be available, helping reduce education inequalities in rural areas.
The final tenants moved into their homes in March 2020, completing the multi-year project, for now. CHT has also acquired further land on behalf of the community for future development, to help fulfil the community's long-term ambitions.
The new tourist information hub is a timber building – the first public building in Scotland to be awarded Passivhaus status – run by Gairloch & Loch Ewe Action forum (GALE), a social enterprise. The building helps create a focal point to the village, encouraging visitors to stop, and attracts over 40,000 visitors per year. It incorporates a community cafe and shop, with growing space supplying the cafe, where cafe waste is also composted.
> Read more about how this development is helping to address the climate crisis here.
The thriving Gairloch Farm Shop is also on-site, popular with both locals and visitors, and they also provide space for the local vet surgery, who were previously housed in inappropriate accommodation, allowing a key local service to continue.
The development also includes facilities for learning and skills development in partnership with the University of the Highlands and Islands (UHI) and the Air Training Corps, which would otherwise not be available, helping reduce education inequalities in rural areas.
The final tenants moved into their homes in March 2020, completing the multi-year project, for now. CHT has also acquired further land on behalf of the community for future development, to help fulfil the community's long-term ambitions.
For further details, download the fact sheet:
| Gairloch Factsheet |
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WATCH: 20-Minute Neighbourhoods in Rural Areas event, featuring Gairloch as a case study
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WATCH: A 12-min clip from the 20-Minute Neighbourhood event, on the social impacts of the GALE Centre
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WATCH: An informal chat with the director of the Scottish CIvic Trust, Susan O'Connor, about the regeneration project
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Awards
The development won the Excellence in Regeneration category of the Chartered Institute of Housing Scotland Housing Awards 2021, and also the Best Regeneration Project - Rural & Suburban category of the UK-wide Inside Housing Development Awards 2021.
It was also a finalist in the Housing & Regeneration category of the SURF Awards 2020, for Best Practice in Community Regeneration, and commended in the Scottish Civic Trust's My Place Awards 2022.
In 2022, the development won the European Responsible Housing Award's 'More Than A Roof' category. The awards are organised by Housing Europe, a network of 43,000 housing providers across 25 countries, to showcase outstanding examples from affordable housing providers from the continent.
It was also a finalist in the Housing & Regeneration category of the SURF Awards 2020, for Best Practice in Community Regeneration, and commended in the Scottish Civic Trust's My Place Awards 2022.
In 2022, the development won the European Responsible Housing Award's 'More Than A Roof' category. The awards are organised by Housing Europe, a network of 43,000 housing providers across 25 countries, to showcase outstanding examples from affordable housing providers from the continent.
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Testimonials
The GALE centre is built as a community hub with a café, tourist information centre, and a gift shop. The idea was to create a social, economic and environmental space within the community where we could create employment, social opportunities and improve our environmental impact as well, so the building’s a passive house. It was the first public building in Scotland to achieve passive house status.
The building has allowed us to expand our operations… we employ 20 staff all year round. One of our goals is to create year-round sustainable employment and the building has very much enabled us to do that.
We also sell products from 40 different people in the community.
Gairloch is divided into two communities, one at Strath and one at Charlestown around the harbour, and then this central part of Achtercairn was a derelict site for well over 10 years. It was a physical heart of the community but socially it wasn’t because it was derelict for so long… Tidying up this brownfield site has really improved the look of the village, created more of a heart to the community.
Janet Miles, Managing Director of GALE
I run the local Air Cadet Squadron. Thanks to the help from CHT, we were able to get a site to build a new headquarters. Beforehand we were in rented accommodation that was cold and damp, and the new building is bright, airy, environmentally friendly and it’s given us a permanent home.
It’s made a huge difference to the morale of the cadets, they’re much happier turning up here every week than the old building, and it’s allowed us to continue to offer a youth activity in a fairly deprived area.
The Housing Trust was able to purchase most of the site and since then set about a really positive redevelopment programme… The whole area has completely rejuvenated the centre of Gairloch and it’s wonderful to see investment in a remote rural community.
Nicki Ellakirk
The difference it’s made to my business - from being a little shop that did hardware, garden, paint, clothing, we’ve now opened a farm shop because everyone was looking for that, and being right on the roadside, the amount of tourists that we get now is phenomenal… it’s totally changed our business.
When the first phase of housing went in along with our shop and the GALE centre, the nicest thing about it was that all of it went to local people.
Another lovely part of that is that the school roll is now a bit higher, we have a lot more people in our local school, the numbers were declining. They still need a good bit of work but we’ve now got a lot more people.
Having this little area that’s now been developed, it stops people going straight out the village; they stop, they realise there’s something here. Our shop’s benefitted immensely from that, the GALE centre has obviously immensely benefitted, but ultimately the housing and everything else that’s here – the new Museum at the other end keeps everyone here – I would say the difference is phenomenal to our village.
Wendy Watson (Owner of the Farm & Garden Store)
Gairloch was always a very scattered community and I think what is now here has given Gairloch a centre, a focus, because right alongside we also have the health centre, the secondary school and the police station so all the main services are very centralised and I think that’s to the benefit of the community.
Rory Macintyre (Chair of Trustees for Gairloch Heritage Museum):
