A 20-home development in Balmaha is taking shape, following years of work to overcome the challenges of building new affordable homes in the village.
CCG (Scotland) commenced construction of the £5.8 million project for Rural Stirling Housing Association earlier this year. The town sits on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond and remains a popular tourist destination. However, its landscape has long presented barriers to new residential development, particularly affordable housing – a need which Rural Stirling Housing Association and the local community have sought to address in partnership with East Loch Lomond Community Trust, Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park Authority, and Stirling Council.
The result is this new development designed by John Gilbert Architects with MacDonald & Cameron Ltd, which will provide 10 homes for rent, six shared-equity homes, and four homes allocated to key local workers.
CCG is constructing large sections of the homes using its iQ timber system, which comprises wall panels manufactured offsite in a factory setting, with insulation, wall linings, windows and doors already installed before arriving onsite.
With lower material use and fewer vehicle movements, this approach helps overcome the challenges posed by Balmaha’s surrounding landscape and narrow roads, while enabling a faster build rate and delivering ‘advanced’ standards of quality and energy efficiency.
A spokesperson for Rural Stirling Housing Association said, “Like RSHA, Balmaha and the surrounding area is completely focused on the need to deliver much-needed affordable housing. We look forward to the day when tenants move into these homes in the village.”
David Wylie, CCG MD, added, “I am delighted with the progress our team has made to date. Balmaha is a perfect example of how CCG’s modern construction methods can help overcome some of the challenges associated with delivering new homes in rural communities. We own and operate one of the UK’s most advanced offsite manufacturing facilities, which is based in Cambuslang, and this is where we deploy semi-automated production processes to help us fabricate our iQ timber system, a wall panel that has vital components already installed before reaching the construction site.
“By manufacturing large sections of each home at our OSM facility before they arrive onsite, we can maintain consistently high quality standards while reducing the number of materials, deliveries and, with it, our carbon footprint. This means less disruption for the surrounding community, a faster construction programme and, ultimately, high-quality, energy-efficient homes that will be brought into use far sooner.
“We thank RSHA and the wider project delivery partners for their support to date and look forward to making even more progress in the weeks and months ahead.”
