OCA led a team to develop this prominent but derelict site at the edge of Loch Gilp. The project’s regeneration grant funding award from the Scottish Government follows on from successful Crinan Charrette public engagement events organised by OCA and facilitated by Kevin Murray Associates, which identified a number of public realm and enterprise projects to help improve the area. Large portions of the overall funding for the project were allocated to undertaking the extensive measures required to deal with the legacy of contamination resulting from the site’s most recent use as an oil storage depot, and to raise ground level across the site as protection against coastal flooding.

RIBA National Award and RIAS Regional Award 2021

Regeneration Category Winner, Scottish Design Awards 2020

Ambassador Award 2020, Edinburgh Architectural Association

Dezeen Award Longlist 2021

The new building has an industrial appearance in keeping with the history of the area, but one which adds an aesthetic emphasis to detailing. The simple pitched-roof form of the existing building has been extended across the new structure, and new walls and roofs are clad in red steel. Within the footprint of the original building the new form emerges from within the old masonry shell; a visual expression of the continuing development of the site.

Photos: © Angus Bremner