Designed for the dramatic Outer Hebridean climate

_{Image credit: OLCO Studios}

A wooden home built by an Olympic medallist on Claddach Vallay, North Uist, has won the research and innovation category in the 2024 Wood Awards.

The award judges described the home featured in a 2023 Channel 5 house-building programme as “perfectly designed for its dramatic Outer Hebridean climate.”

The £1 million dream home belongs to Ewan MacDonald, who won a bronze medal in curling at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, and his partner Amy.

They built the house after selling their family insurance business in Inverness. They had Welsh timber trucked 600 miles north to construct it.

Named Uist House, the awards panel stated:

“Overlooking a tidal lagoon fed by the North Atlantic Ocean, Uist House uses locally sourced and natural materials to provide a high-performance fabric that coexists harmoniously with its surroundings.

“Constructed primarily in a factory in Wales, the house was shipped in seven prefabricated modules, travelling 570 miles across land and sea, to its final destination on the island of North Uist, where it was assembled.”

They selected Uist House for its strength, air tightness, insulation and low carbon costs.

“The realisation of Uist House demonstrates the fantastic innovation and quality possible within the Welsh timber and offsite construction industries. It successfully builds on over a decade of collaboration and innovation using homegrown timber.”

But the news of the award win was met with mixed reactions locally. Among the comments online were comparisons of the house to an Amazon warehouse, Rangehead and an agricultural shed.

Equally, others praised the design, saying it sat well within the landscape and that the windows took full advantage of the surrounding views.

Source: We Love Stornaway