Banchory

The brief

A home for retirement: low energy and cheap to run for years to come.

How we built it

The house went up from a prefabricated kit, which keeps time on site short and the build quality consistent. It was built to Passivhaus standard, with triple-glazed windows and doors and a tight, well-sealed envelope to keep heat in and bills down.

The house sits in an elevated position. To get up to it, we built an embankment from gabion baskets, which carries a staircase up to the front of the house.

Outside, Scottish larch cladding sits alongside a Baumit render system, and a green roof finishes the house and helps it settle into its surroundings.