AED together with Carbon Dynamic in Invergordon, JNE Space, Highland Council and Fairhurst produced designs for this ground-breaking low-energy social housing project at Kendal Court, Alness.

The flats were constructed off-site in large “volumetric” elements and then transported to site for installation on pre-prepared pad foundations. The metal mounting brackets can be seen below the units in the photographs. These enable the units to be relocated at a later date if required.

Construction is an interesting and efficient hybrid of CLT panels and conventional OSB-sheathed timber stud walls, with a stressed skin timber cassette floor system comprised of solid timber joist and plywood facings. The lower units have an independent CLT ceiling hung below the floor in order to provide acoustic separation and enclosure/strength of the units during transport.

The units are designed for full acoustic separation between the four flats, including special attention to the holding down straps which must perform that function while not transmitting noise vibration. The roofs were also installed as pre-built frameworks as can be seen in the images.

The units are super-insulated using Steico blown-in wood fibre insulation and energy performance is outstanding. Power consumption is expected to be under £20/month.

The project has attracted significant local media interest, and you can watch the JNE Space video as well.