In Chapter 3 of Scotland 2070, we speak enthusiastically about building homes to the Passiv House standard – and in particular, doing so using Scottish wood. The nay-sayers were quick to point out that most of our commercial forestry is fast-growing Spruce, which produces timber that they refer to disparagingly as ‘only suitable for fenceposts and pallets’.
But we did our research. In the book, we noted that modern engineered timber technologies such as Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) and GluLam (Glued Laminated timber components) use, as their feedstock, pieces of wood similar in size to pallets and fenceposts; and the resultant components can be larger than tree-trunks, stronger than steel, and more fire resistant than steel as well. We argue that these technologies are perfectly capable of using Scottish wood.
So we were delighted to see that one of the prize exhibits at COP26 in Glasgow was the COP26 House.
It demonstrates a simple, affordable way to build beautiful homes which will simultaneously help us meet our climate commitments. The house was specifically designed to use homegrown C16 Spruce, to avoid the need for imported timber.
The UK is one of the world’s largest importers of wood products. Only 13% of the UK, and 18% of Scotland, is forested, compared with a European norm of over 30%, and over 70% for Finland and Sweden. So, we also advocate drastically increasing Scotland’s woodland cover, from 18% to 60%, to benefit both timber production and biodiversity, with a view to growing our wood economy from 1% to over 3% of GDP.
Later, in a flight of fancy towards the end of Chapter 7, we propose this vision of Scottish housing in 2070:
The house is smaller than professional middle-class people would have owned fifty years ago. Taking a lead from Scandinavia and Germany, houses are now valued as homes, not investments, and waste and ostentation are gently frowned upon in most social circles. Small, modular, factory-built houses and low-rise apartment blocks, with excellent heat and sound insulation, private allotments and well-maintained safe public spaces made houses affordable again and encouraged people to live nearer their work. Because hardly anyone owns a car, there are no garages or drives. Most people walk or cycle to work, or they use the free public transport.
Today, I heard just this concept described as the “Goldilocks solution” to housing 11 billion people, in a TED talk I listened to while I was out for a walk. Low rise apartments are much more efficient than detached houses or tower blocks. Not only that, but they lend themselves to thriving communities in a way that neither tower blocks nor estates of detached bungalows do. To hear more, listen to enthusiastic Indian architect Vichaan Chakrabati. (10 minutes)
My take on his talk: we should never have flattened the Gorbals! I don’t mean that literally, but it would have been better to have replaced the slums with normal low-rise tenements in the same area, so that communities could have stayed together, while the now-demolished tower blocks stayed on the drawing board.