Sustainable Development Projects at Kingairloch
Kingairloch is a wild place and in many respects is a traditional Highland Estate that historically relied on sporting activities such as red deer stalking as a main source of revenue. Peripheral activities such as forestry plantations and agriculture were developed in previous generations and today remain as in important part to Kingairloch. Together these activities provided a reasonable income for the estate today, but it was deemed at an early stage in the Larson and Yeoman family that these activities alone were unsustainable economically and provided meagre employment prospects.
A strategy was set out in 2000 to invest in the future, modernize the estate, and improve the economic and employment opportunities. This included renovation of nine derelict houses into self catering accommodation. A dilapidated boathouse was converted into the 30-seat waterfront restaurant with additional free visitor moorings. A derelict farm building was initially converted to provide bed and breakfast, but was adapted in 2011 into a self catering property. The conifer forestry plantations went into a consultation process to create a long-term forestry plan with the vision of harvesting the commercial timber to replant them with native woodlands.
While the traditional activities have been retained and enhanced (52 stags and 109 hinds culled last year as part of a deer management plan involving guests from nine countries), the new activities have created significant employment opportunities in a remote area and made the estate more sustainable from an economic perspective. This has led to an employment level of 1 full time equivalent (FTE) in 2000 to 8 FTEs currently, an increase of 800 percent. That figure does not include the numerous contractors employed by the estate for the never-ending restoration projects and one-off major projects.
Despite the significant achievements in tourism growth, the estate management realised that it was still not using all of the resources available. This included the abundant rainfall and mountainous terrain along with the inherited forestry plantations.
Power from the Glens
In 2001, initial consultations began on the development of hydroelectric power generation. In 2003, planning was granted to the Loch Uisge (3.6 megawatt) scheme after many feasibility studies of the projected impact on existing habitats, hydrological studies and grid connection analysis. Construction commenced in the same year and the project came on stream in March 2005, and most importantly site restoration was moving towards completion at the same time. It represented a circa £8m capital investment for Scottish and Southern Energy and provided 75 full time jobs during the construction phase. At the time of the official opening in August 2005 (attended by Rt Hon Alistair Darling MP, then secretary of state for Scotland and Lord Smith of Kelvin, now chairman of the 2014 commonwealth games), Kingairloch’s scheme at 3.6 megawatt installed capacity was the largest Greenfield hydro project built in Scotland since 1974.
Following the completion of the hyrdro scheme, the estate was contracted to upgrade and build a series of footpaths, with SSE providing the funding. The paths became part of the overall planning permission for the project with many of them only having to be upgraded from paths that dated over 100 year old, thus not adding additional scars to the hillside. Of particular interest for the estate was to construct paths that formed interconnecting ‘loops’ so that guests could enjoy the spectacular scenery up the glens without reaching a dead end.
Another environmental enhancement that followed, was the Kingairloch fish hatchery. Since 2007 both sea trout and salmon have been raised in tanks to be released in our river systems. This is an ongoing project with the hope that in years to come our river systems will thrive with returning sea trout and salmon. On an annual basis the rivers and lochs are monitored by the Lochaber Fishers Trust to analyse the number, size and health of our fish.
District Biomass Schemes
Anyone associated with timber harvesting in the Highlands would recognise that until recently the upper third of any tree harvested was virtually worthless. Kingairloch was no exception to this and experience from harvesting showed that this by-product was worth at best a few pounds per tonne when worked back to the point of extraction. This was clearly not sustainable and in discussions with Kingairloch’s forestry advisors, Scottish Woodlands, it was decided to explore other options to deal with the by-product.
In September 2009, the estate began working with Highland Wood Energy (now HWE), to build a small scale community system. Rated at 35 kilowatt, this uses wood chips (chipped from the upper third of harvested timber) to heat Home Farm, the estate laundry, the estate office and outbuildings at the farm.
Following the successful installation of this ‘pilot’ facility, the estate, the Forestry Commission and HWE fast tracked a much larger scheme rated at 230 kilowatt and heats Kingairloch House, Riverside Cottage, staff accommodation, the estate ballroom/celidh hall, and runs into the walled garden (with plans to run pipes to The Gate Lodge). A substantial wood chip store was constructed to keep chips dry from the elements with a contractor required once a year to re-stock the store using timber that has been drying in stacked piles.
During harvesting campaigns, the primary timber (known as dimension logs for sawmills) is extracted by sea transport only and sufficient by product (called ’round log’) is stockpiled to provide about five years worth of feedstock for the biomass plants. This is important as the chip needs to have a low moisture content. Based on current use about 200 tonnes per annum are consumed by the two plants so roughly 1000 tonnes are held in stock. Estimates of the remaining mature timber on the estate would provide a 40-year supply of wood chip feedstock. By that time some of the recent plantings will be mature so these facilities should provide for a sustainable heating source for generations of guests and employees on the estate.
The Future
Kingairloch welcomes visitors to view all of the renewable energy projects and estate operatives are on hand to provide tours and information about the projects. Guests in the holiday cottages are provided with footpath routes and are welcome to fish Loch Uisge for wild brown trout.
The estate continues to investigate further renewable potential. This was a thorough evaluation of all options. Wind power did not show a favourable return and tidal power was not deemed technologically feasible at this time. However, further smaller hydro schemes have been deemed feasible and funding has been approved in principle for five small micro hydro projects. Some of these projects will be directly linked to the holiday cottages and other facilities at the estate in an unobtrusive manner. The projects rely on Kingairloch’s track record to provide for responsible construction and operation.
Kingairloch is not prepared to stand still whilst continuing developments in renewable energy evolve. With Scotland planning to produce 40% of it’s energy from renewable sources from 2020, we all have to do our bit for the environment. Thus Kingairloch strives to provide for a renewable future whilst still allowing everyone to enjoy the things that makes living and visiting Scotland so special.
