We have just received the final version of the feasibility study into new, affordable housing on a site at Ardvourlie. Porteous Architecture has worked with its partners to design an attractive scheme that makes the most of the landscape and views. The Engineer and Quantity Surveyor however have put a damper on things by costing the project at well over £1M.
We have tried a larger scheme of 8x 2 and 3-bed houses to get the price down per unit. We have tried a 4 unit scheme to reduce the roads and services, to get the price down. Whatever we’ve done, we are looking at c£250K per house according to the professionals. Despite positive first impressions, it’s proving an expensive site to develop. The Rural Housing Fund grants for affordable homes are about £100K  per unit– leaving a large gap to fill.
The plan now is to ask Highland Small Community Housing Trust to go over the figures and make sure there are no glaringly obvious mistakes. They have far more experience developing social housing than us. Finally, we somehow have to get the message over to the Scottish Government, that it’s more expensive to build here than their funding scheme will allow!
Have a look at the study HERE