Building a sustainable turf hut in Scotland using traditional skills and materials

Building in turf has a long tradition in Scotland, but does it have future?
Find out how we created a sustainable turf hut in Comrie, Perthshire, using turf and other natural materials, learning from ancient skills and knowledge.
During this innovative project, we used ancient traditional materials and skills to explore how they can be applied as sustainable building practices for the modern age. What you will discover are not archaeological reconstructions, but our translations of ancient circular practices into a modern world facing a climate crisis. 
For the build, we used materials from close by such as turf and bracken, using non-powered tools, to represent a circular economy. These are materials which regenerate naturally, and we encouraged biodiversity by reseeding areas where we cut the turf. Looking at the finished site, the landscape appears untouched less than a year later.
This project explores the ways traditional materials and skills can be used to make construction more sustainable. Can metal fences be replaced with boundary walls that create valuable new habitat? Could agricultural storage be built with living, breathing turf walls? What about a recreational hut that composts back into the soil?
Projects such as this are looking towards more sustainable development, where we take into account the carbon footprint of construction. On the project, we’ve translated ancient concepts back into tangible modern practice to show how, turf block by turf block, heritage can get us closer to a net-zero future.
The project was developed with The University of Edinburgh, Archaeo Build and Comrie Croft.
Find out more about the project here: edinburgh-innovations.ed.ac.u...
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