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Study Report for Ballater
A summary series of recent research from Communities Scotland
Below is a précis from Community Scotland on Tenants First development at Ballater. The research was carried out by Hexagon Research and Consulting and Alembic Research. The views expressed in these reports are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of Communities Scotland or Tenants First Housing Co-operative.
The précis as well as the full Final Research report is available by clicking the links below:
- Précis No. 102 - (86 Kb)
- Final Research Report 85 - (173 Kb)
Innovative Dutch-style housing in Ballater
In 2003, Communities Scotland funded Tenants First Housing Co-operative (Tenants First) to build five new homes for affordable rent in Ballater, Aberdeenshire. The houses represented the demonstration phase of a study by architect Gokay Deveci, with a remit to investigate ways in which composite "off-site construction" technologies can be put in place to gain maximum benefits from efficiency, flexibility, quality, and improved energy performance. The project in Ballater sought to put into practice the design concepts identified in the study.
The study has shown that:
- There is strong evidence that composite "off-site construction" technologies can make an important contribution in the procurement and supply of high quality affordable housing in Scotland.
- The houses are extremely thermally efficient – compared to the nearby timber framed control houses, fuel costs were 10 per cent lower. Gains could have been greater as the theoretical difference in fuel costs was calculated to have been 38 per cent.
- The development at Ballater demonstrated the flexibility of the product. The kit was successfully modified to ensure the houses were in keeping with the surrounding private sector development.
- The houses have a higher quality of finish because of factory condition fabrication, resulting in few snagging problems.
- The development has generated very high levels of tenant satisfaction, particularly in relation to the effectiveness and economy of the heating system, overall space standards and the way that the houses fit in with the surrounding development.
- There is a high level of noise insulation as a result of using composite wall panels and all tenants valued this very highly. This is in marked contrast to the tenants of the control houses who regarded noise through party walls as a major concern. Also Grampian Fire and Rescue confirmed that the "composite panels" provide greater fire resistance qualities.
- The original estimated build time of 12 weeks was not achieved mainly because of inexperience in using the product. It is expected that future developments would achieve significant time savings.
- More effective project management arrangements and an integrated approach to the design and build phases of the project would have minimised some of the difficulties and delays.
