20 August 2010
And what have these to do with sustainable development in this country we call Scotland? Actually, quite a lot. Let’s start with the houses – 52 innovative (some downright bizarre) designs for the green council scheme of the future. They’re on display – real houses which guinea pig tenants and owners will inhabit later this year – at the Scotland’s Housing Expo mini-village on the outskirts of Inverness.
This development has received £10million of public money and is on show to the public (whose money it is, or was!) until the end of August 2010. There are houses with rubber roofs, large expanses of glass, walls made from used bricks, walls of ivy growing on larchwood, and much more. Energy conservation and the use of recycled materials are at the heart of these designs from a variety of architects and planners, and though you might think at first some of the buildings look at bit odd (or at least different) internally and externally, the heating costs can be extraordinarily low – £64 per year to heat a semi-detached two-bedroom home and the rubber-roofed four-room home will cost no more than £92 a year to heat. You can see photos and descriptions of many of these homes on the Expo website (where of course you will find all the other information you may want).
I have to be honest and say that most of the houses really look rather good! However I do wonder what the cost of these structures will be compared to more conventional housing which just meets the minimum standards, and how long it will be before the undoubted fuel savings compensate? But it needn’t be a case of one or another – the ecohouse or the non-ecohouse – this is an opportunity to show off alternative materials and constructions, which can be incorporated on a pick and mix basis into future housebuilding, both private and public.
Scotland’s Housing Expo is open to the public until 31 August. It is situated at Milton of Leys on the outskirts of Inverness. Admission charge is £6 (concession £4) with children admitted free. There’s a programme of events as well. A bus service operates every half hour during the Expo period from Queensgate in the city centre – Stagecoach service 4 – with a journey time of 28 minutes. There were 13,000 visitors in the first fortnight. (I might have missed it but this important and exciting exhibition, of national interest, hasn’t received nearly as much publicity as I would have expected.) If you miss the exhibition the website will still be there for a while.
Elephants and Dolhins. If you are in Inverness another good thing to do is to take a walk on the city's excellent pathway network. I recommend walking from the castle along the River Ness, through the Ness Islands, on to child-friendly Whin Park (with its boating lake and miniature railway, up past Bught Park (wee café and big greenhouse – small admission fee to the greenhouse and gardens), then along the Caledonian Canal towpath to the Sea Lock on the Beauly Firth then along the Firth to Merkinch. OK you’re getting impatient - the pink elephant is in Whin Park and the Dolphin bench (also Seal bench and Nessie bench) are at Merkinch.
Merkinch is the most socially and economically deprived area of Inverness (see Inverness City Partnership). But is it has a community which is proud of its history and heritage and is working, successfully, to revitalise the area. There’s no space here to detail all the great work going on, but please visit the excellent Merkinch Community website. The Merkinch Local Nature Reserve, Scotland’s 50th LNR, was designated in 2007. See also Merkinch Greenspace. The benches, the result of a project involving pupils from Merkinch Primary School, look out over a spectacular view – to the right the Kessock Bridge (hold your hats, folks if you’re walking across!), in front the Black Isle, to the left the Beauly Firth backed by the mountains in the distance beyond. From Merkinch you’re a short distance from the River Ness and the riverbank walk back to the city centre.
Sustainable Devlopment / Sustainable Community. So here we have in Inverness local people striving to build a sustainable community and the Expo showing the way ahead for sustainable development in housing with increased use of recycled materials and reduced carbon emissions, and let’s not forget plenty of green space and safe play areas. Originally I thought of contrasting the two projects to the detriment of the Expo and suggesting that these innovations weren’t really practical and the money would be better spent helping worthy community developments such are as happening at Merkinch. As I wrote this, though, I changed my mind. Both are to be commended, both are necessary in the continuing development of a more sustainable Scotland.
If you are interested in Elephants in Loch Ness follow the link. If you are interested in elephant jokes (including pink elephant jokes) click here. If you are interested in visiting Scotland’s Seagull City, go to Inverness (yes, I’ve been in Aberdeen but Inverness still gets the accolade!)
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