August 9 2018

Lucid Architecture are pioneering an innovative housing development which blurs the boundaries between tourism and co-housing at Ferry Brae, Kilcreggan.

The scheme takes the form of seven small ‘hybrid’ homes designed with the flexibility to be utilised as tourist accommodation, second homes or co-housing - defined by shared facilities on communal land including a renewable energy system, meeting space, sauna, kitchen, workshops, storage, recycling and outdoor terraces.

Lucid will act as architect-developer for the build which seeks to address an identified shortfall in mid-scaled rural developments by introducing more innovative delivery mechanisms.

In a statement Lucid wrote: “The new accommodation provides an important example project of how modern housing and tourism can develop beyond the traditional ‘executive villa’ type of plot style housing or ‘chalet park’ tourism development and shows a more mixed and flexible type of end usage that is better integrated into the village. The public and shared elements of the design provide interest among the units themselves and also within the area.

“The project is build-able and deliverable. It has already generated significant positive interest both locally and further afield due to offering an alternative approach to living, working, tourism, landscaping, energy use, materials and space planning plus co-ownership of shared accommodation and land.”

Landscape architects ERZ are working with Lucid to create a pedestrian path from the site to the village centre, along with a native tree-planting strategy designed to resolve recent land degradation.

4 Comments

#1 Posted by boaby wan on 9 Aug 2018 at 10:59 AM

Very interesting proposals - architect/developer role sounds risky, but in a good way.
Good luck with the incredibly forward thinking Argyll and Bute planners.

#2 Posted by Walt Disney on 9 Aug 2018 at 14:27 PM

Looks nice and its a good concept however there are serious operational and financial questions that need to be consdered. Who is the operator / landlord? What is the tenure? Is there areal market for this? How is it financed?

Developments like this don't exist primarily because the business model doesn't work. You try getting a mortgage for 'shared ownership of accomodation and land".

#3 Posted by Lucid Dreams on 10 Aug 2018 at 13:14 PM

Valid points but the tenement model clearly shows that co-owned land, access and additional storage plus facilities can work, it's really not that radical if you think about it. Co-housing is also proven but a bit more unusual, however, this does not go too far in that regard. It's time we looked at larger scale self build models as they do in other countries. Too many buildings effectively end up designed by banks and lawyers at the moment in Scotland...

#4 Posted by boaby wan on 14 Feb 2019 at 18:47 PM

I see this one was heading for a planning refusal, shame

Post your comments