Prize for The Big Shed

Mar 1 2013 by Perthshire Advertiser, Perthshire Advertiser

An innovative community building in rural Perthshire has won a top eco-construction accolade.

The Big Shed at Lawers on Loch Tay-side has won the Carbon Trust Scotland Low Carbon Building Awards 2013 for new-build property.

It was in good company, the other winner at the recent award ceremony was the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, which took the top prize in the refurbishment category, following a £17.6 million revamp.

Located at Tombreck farm, The Big Shed is a community-led eco-build development. The 240m square space was designed to have many uses and is booked out for concerts and meetings.

It has a spacious community hall, studio and workshop and was built two years ago using local, natural and renewable materials, including reclaimed and recycled materials and components.

The building was designed by Ecological Architecture and incorporates higher than required levels of insulation. It is heated entirely from renewable energy sources.

The project attracted funding from the Big Lottery Fund, Perth and Kinross Council, the Climate Challenge Fund, Community Energy Scotland and the sustainable architecture body, the Sust.Initiative.

Paul Wedgwood, manager of Carbon Trust Scotland, said: “Every entry received showed great innovation and was able to demonstrate their commitment to creating a low carbon environment for the occupants.

“The Big Shed should be held up as an exemplary case study of best practice to show how a building can become more energy efficient, benefitting both the environment and the bottom line.

“A low-key community hall in Perthshire and a nationally significant institution in the heart of the capital couldn’t be further apart in terms of budget, function and setting but what they share is a unifying embrace of low carbon principles as the foundation of successful design.”