New eco-friendly homes to be quite the catch for Eday workers

Scottish Sea Farms has been granted approval to build six new eco-friendly homes on the island of Eday in Orkney, in partnership with local landowners Haydn Jones and Nick Lyde of Willowstream.The £750,000 development will help solve the issue of accommodating employees working on the firm’s nearby salmon farm – with four of the properties intended for workers, whilst the other two will be made available for rent to locals.Eday is at the centre of Ornkey’s renewable energy drive, with a project currently underway to convert surplus power from the European Marine Energy Centre’s tidal test site and the community-owned 900kW wind turbine into hydrogen gas to store and use on demand.Scottish Sea Farms say that they were keen to continue the area’s eco-friendly credentials, so the modular-build properties will use sustainable cedar wood cladding for insulation, have living sedum roofs which provide practical benefits as well as habitat for wildlife, packaged sewage treatment systems and reed beds to separate and capture waste from water – as oppose to using septic tanks, and the use of wind-generated power from existing turbines along with air source heat pumps which absorb warmth from the air outside to heat homes.Local architect Leslie Burgher will also help ensure that the 1.5 acre development blends into the landscape, with her plans intending on seeing the homes stepped into the hillside of the island.Scottish Sea Farms say that work on the development is to begin immediately, with the homes set to be ready for occupancy in time for the next stock of salmon in early Spring of 2020.