North Whins story

PROJECT INFORMATION UPDATED!

In 2019 we actively started to plan for a cluster of 8 “Section75” (affordable housing) flats on the North Whins (NW) site of Duneland, in the Findhorn Ecovillage.

Here’s the current situation as @15 September 2021:

Duneland’s North Whins proposal approved by Moray Council on 20 August 2019.
oct/19: PET NW affordable Housing is now into its own Moray Council planning phase:
- approval process expected to be completed latest February 2020
- construction to start March/April 2020
dec/19: Funding preparation: main grant request being prepared and sent
feb/20: After a technical delay, the Board has given the Building Warrant Application process their ok; the Project Team is looking at ways to minimise knock-on timescale delays
apr/20: current health crisis has put everything on hold; so we await formal guidance regarding administrative & funding application processes already underway
jul/20 Moray Council have given their final approval for the construction of our Section 75 affordable housing project at North Whins.
- Now the fundraising and building can move forward in earnest.
- The Moray Council approval formalises PET’s eligibility for a Scottish Rural Housing Fund grant that was awarded to PET in January 2020.
- Following the Council’s decision a building warrant application was submitted to Moray Council Building Standards.
- Tendering for the principal construction contractor will commence late July 2020 with the aim to award the construction contract in late August.
- The Project team estimates that the site work may begin as early as October subject to Duneland Ltd North Whins development commencement.
oct/20 Moray Council Building standards have now issued the building warrant
- construction tender award sep/20, contract signed and properties scheduled for completion by Jan 2022
- Duneland Ltd has commenced site clearance to enable the construction to start
- Foundations expected to start in November 2020.
jan/21 Ground work has begun despite the weather and lockdown measures. “As things progress the boundaries of the site will get clearer,” writes Dunelands the land developer in this week’s Rainbow Bridge.
apr/21 (1) We have informally calculated that we may, in time, need to pay higher construction costs because of material cost increases due to Brexit and the pandemic. Loose indications of 5% have been mentioned — but the project’s finances include a reasonable contingency. FURTHER DONATIONS however ARE ALWAYS WELCOME!!! (2) Foundations of the building are complete and the site is now dormant whilst GLDB completes Silvertrees project. (3) Timber Framing is expected to start in early June.
jul/21 The Community and Renewable Energy Scheme funded¹ NW wastewater2heat extraction system, is in its final design stage: an on-site expert meeting on the 26th will cross the project’s design “Tee’s” by end August. In order for the NW system to work, FF/NFD/Duneland/THA have agreed to supply 20+ years’ (quantity, quality&transport) of treated effluent from within the Park!
Aug/21 The plan is to have one block complete and tenants moved in by end of March 2022. Timber framing has commenced and proceeding well.
Sep/21 PET has named the development “Woodside”; the significance being that it is on the Wilkies Wood side of North Whins development and right next to Wilkies Wood.

Design

North Whins is being designed as a worthy addition to our portfolio of affordable homes. The portfolio consists of the relatively big East Whins (EW) homes and the smaller one bed-room West Whins (WW) cluster.

Funding

We are looking to fundraise £500,000 for this project. Thank you for considering this project for a donation or a loan. For details about donations, see here ; for loans, please ℅ Fundraising.

To make “affordable” sustainable, our West Whins funding strategy successfully prioritised borrowing within the Community (through Ekopia Ltd. plus private loans) and an application to the Scottish Rural Housing Fund (RHF). Two Community members offered PET their pension funds as a loan, for a total of £140,000; and another person came to Ekopia offering a £100,000 loan.

We would very much like to — again — secure a major grant from the Scottish Ministers, and attract donations and loans from within and without the community. The land has been effectively gifted by Duneland Ltd. (ie sold for a nominal fee).

Allocation

The allocation process for these flats will be similar to those used in the previous projects. read more ….

Construction

Construction was originally planned to commence in March/April 2020. But with the 2020/1 CVpandemic, groundbreaking only started in Jan 2021! Click on the images to see the details.