GCA+D were appointed in 2021 to prepare detailed design proposals for new Staff Accommodation at Craighouse, on the Isle of Jura, for Ardfin Estates. The staff accommodation is required to service the Hotel and golf course operated by Ardfin Estates at Jura House at the south end of the island.

The proposed development site comprises some 1.8 hectares, located southeast of the main settlement village of Craighouse. The site is in the Jura National Scenic Area, within a key rural settlement area on land allocated for development, out with the Countryside Zone.

The brief was to provide mixed tenure accommodation comprising 40 staff beds, to be implemented in two phases. Individual staff accommodation is self-contained, with en-suite shower rooms and cooking facilities. A small central common area building is also provided to serve the residents, and this building will include a laundry, kitchen, dining, and lounge areas.

Associated carparking, access and service roads, footpaths, landscaping, and communal recycling facilities also form part of the overall development. The target completion date for the development is April 2023.

The development will be thermally efficient, incorporate a renewable district heating system and appropriate water and energy efficient systems.

A traditional Scottish vernacular, with contemporary detailing is proposed to the scale, massing, and elevational treatment of the new development to minimise the impact of the new buildings within the landscape setting.

The proposed buildings are a combination of single and 1½ storeys that is considered appropriate for buildings in the countryside, on the Island of Jura. Traditional Scottish farm buildings in the countryside were identified as suitable reference building types that can be adapted to form an appropriate settlement pattern. Such earlier built forms offer unassuming courtyard building groups, often with one main building flanked by secondary byres and farm sheds in both formal and irregular arrangements.

The architectural approach proposed lends itself to adoption of a suitable mixed palette of materials such as: traditional render and timber clad external wall finishes; slate, and profiled metal, standing seam roof finishes. 

It is proposed that the areas out with the immediate building and hard landscaped footprint should be allowed to regenerate/ re-wild following completion of construction. The shared surface areas within the enclosed spaces formed by the buildings will be turfed or grass seeded, with limited tree planting.