House of straw

Story by Claire Elliot

SCOTLAND could soon see its first housing development - made out of straw.

It is the brainchild of mother-of-four Kim Siu, who, fed up with rising house prices and energy bills, set up her own business to find environmentally friendly and affordable solutions.

The 42-year-old, who lives near Forres, Moray, is now looking to create, in partnership with a local housing association, up to 12 eco-homes for rent using straw bale construction.

Each two and three bed-roomed property would be made from around 500 bales and cost at least £10,000 less to build than a conventional house.

And, with a lime-render finish, Ms Siu said the homes would look more like the “old-fashioned farm cottage” than something out of the Three Little Pigs nursery rhyme.

She said: “They are as strong and sturdy as any other house and they are very cosy.

“It’s a sustainable build and an energy efficient house.

“They’re highly insulated and as a result would cost you about 75% less for electricity bills. Usually, one wood

burning stove and the kids running around would be enough to heat it.”

Ms Siu has been working on the idea for the last few years and this week she met with representatives from potential landlord Langstane Housing Association, and landowners Moray Council and Drummuir Easte, near Keith.

Council land at Drummuir has already been identified for affordable housing, where it is proposed eight homes could be built, with estate land used for a further four.

Ms Siu, said: “This would be the first in Scotland and certainly in today’s [economic] climate it’s a great solution.

“It’s certainly a viable option for affordable housing, it’s not any more difficult than building an ordinary house, and there are tenants out there interested in living in a straw bale house.

“It ticks all the boxes. It’s an environmental solution and an affordable one, which is the important thing.”

Ms Siu, set up her own business, Down to Earth Solutions, four years ago to find alternatives after her continual struggle to get on the property ladder.

She said: “I was a full-time mother and couldn’t get on the housing ladder. I watched the prices of houses get higher and higher. So I was fuelled by my own need to have a home of our own."

Ms Siu and her partner Mark Thomson are currently awaiting formal planning consent to build a private five-bed roomed straw bale house at Aberlour, which they hope to complete for less than £100,000.

But she said she hoped the straw bale houses for rent could become "a beacon of excellence".

“It’s a pilot project, with the aim to encourage other people to replicate,” she added

Chief executive of Aberdeen-based Langstane Housing Association, Alan Grant, said it would be a “real breakthrough” if they were to become the first in Scotland to provide straw bale homes for rent.

He said: “We recognise that for the smaller rural settlements to remain viable, they have to be sustained by the provision of affordable housing.

“We like to think of ourselves as an innovative association, but it would be a real breakthrough for us if we became the first association in Scotland to use this very sustainable and energy efficient form of construction for social rented housing."