client Balcaskie Estate
engineers Millard Consulting
total area 0.5 hectare
Balcaskie Estate, on the East Neuk of Fife, commissioned Halvorsen Architects to convert Balcormo farm steading into a hub for small businesses such as the campervan converters that already operate there.
This includes the renovation of several small stone Georgian buildings, significantly enlarging the one residential cottage, and building some new smaller workshop and office units.
Halvorsen Architects was initially asked to produce a “sustainable retrofit” guide for use at Balcormo and across the wider Balcaskie estate that outlines a range of options for retrofitting the existing 18th and 19th-century farm buildings on the site, prioritising the use of natural materials.
The workshops and offices are provided with a common kitchen, meeting room and shared garden, where tenants can grow their own fruit and vegetables. A small elegant Georgian barn is to be converted into the group’s reception and meeting room. All the buildings are being designed to be as flexible as possible, so they can adapt to changing needs.
The large cottage extension will be clad in corrugated corten steel, giving it a striking contemporary look, contrasting with the existing sandstone building. The other new buildings will be clad in timber sourced from the surrounding estate.
The steading is to be powered by a local renewable energy scheme using photovoltaic panels and a biomass boiler, fuelled with timber grown on the estate.
Planning permission has been granted for this project.
