Scotland' Housing Expo

The cream of Scottish architecture to showcase designs at the UK’s first ever Housing Fair

Organisers of the UK’s very first Housing Fair have now announced that it will take place in the Highlands of Scotland throughout the whole of August 2009.
The Fair will run throughout August 2009 and will be held on a site at Balvonie, on the outskirts of the City of Inverness. Other important themes of the Fair will be design, innovation, affordability and energy efficiency.

The Highland Housing Fair is fully supported by a consortium of agencies, including the Scottish Government. It will comprise an exciting and diverse range of more than 50 architecturally-designed homes, which will all be available to purchase or rent. Of these, 40% will be affordable and 60% will be available on the free market.

The architects and developers that will create homes on the site were selected via a competition launched in January 2007. Accredited by the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, the competition invited architects and developers to compete for plots at the site.

Successful designs that were chosen for the Fair include:

• ‘The Timber House’ by John Gilbert Architects – affordable family homes that can be replicated sustainably throughout the Highlands

• “The Stone House” by NORD Architecture: a home created out of natural materials incorporating innovative layouts.

• “A Secret Garden” by Rural Design Ltd: Exploring the connection between house and garden

• “The Flower House” by A&J Burridge – a wonderfully exciting family home

• “The Summer House” by Bracewell Stirling Architects: A home that they hope to construct in one 24 hour period on Midsummer’s Day

• “Massiv Passiv” by Locate Architects: innovative construction with a solar power focus

As well as these examples, The Fair will incorporate many more innovative, sustainable and exciting examples of house building at its very best.

The Fair will also incorporate an exhibition that will highlight the best in design, innovation, sustainability and energy efficiency for modern homes. There will also be a range of entertainment, inspirational experiences and good food by local caterers on offer. The Fair will aim to attract around 1,000 people per day and subsequent Fairs will be held every two years in other locations in the Highlands.

Fiona Porteous, Highland Housing Fair coordinator, commented: “Having selected the winners from the competition, we are thrilled to now be able to announce that the inaugural Highland Housing Fair will take place in Inverness during August 2009.

“As the organisation of the Fair starts to gather momentum and the countdown to August 2009 commences, we are really starting to see the project taking shape. The premise of the Fair is to lead by example: we want to take a positive step towards changing the housing market for the better, instead of simply talking about it. It’s fantastic that the Highlands has welcomed this concept and will be the first place in the UK to hold an event of this nature.

“We want to engage with people not just from Scotland but from the whole of the UK, with the aim of encouraging them to expect more from the housing sector. We need to ‘raise the bar’ and show people what can be achieved if we move the emphasis onto better design of homes and communities. The Fair aims to prove that we can successfully deviate from the current model and that there is more to house building than creating estates of identical units. The architects and developers will demonstrate this at the Fair.

“However, this is not an elitist project. This collection of homes is designed for ordinary people, and 40% of the homes will be affordable, which is very important given the current chronic housing shortage in the Highlands, which is mirrored throughout much of the UK. When the Fair is complete, there will be a thriving, permanent community that will be made up of a mix of ages, backgrounds and incomes.

“We want the Fair to be a catalyst for change so it will have the key theme of sustainability running through it: for example, we want to show what can be achieved by using local timber and act as an example for the rest of the country. It will be a ‘first’ for the UK, but by no means the last.”

For further information on the Highland Housing Fair and the winning designs that will be showcased at the event, please visit: http://www.highlandhousingfair.co.uk

Ends:                                05 December 2007

For media information, please contact Lisa Mennie or Pauline Gregory at IAS SMARTS on 0141 222 2040 / 07710 783 136