Eskmuthe Boatshed – the story so far

After spending so much time trying to come up with a sustainably built boatshed, I think we are ahead of the game. There are lots of more sustainable building options in the pipeline, but not many hat are quite there yet. We have come up with a good compromise, and hope everyone agrees.

At our committee meeting on Monday we decided to use Durisol blocks, a recycled wood-based brick with insulation incorporated in it that is put up and then filled with cement.

www.durisoluk.co.uk
The bricks are a compromise, but are 80 per cent recycled and approaching carbon neutral.

The positives are:
They are approaching carbon neutral
They are good for self-builders (Pauline and I went on a training day and seven of us built a wall about a metre height and four metres long in about 10 minutes; it’s like Lego)
It is structural (load bearing)
The company has been around for over 10 years
It is cheaper than breezeblocks

Negatives are:
Not carbon neutral
Contains cement
It is slightly wider than our plans

We are also going for a recycled plastic ‘slate’ roof tile

https://greensustainableproductsco.com
and windows and doors
https://velfac.co.uk/domestic/


For people new to the club or anyone who is a bit lost, here is a recap of the long and windy road that will hopefully get us to the Eskmuthe boatshed!

Idea of a boatshed raised and not met by everyone with enthusiasm. At the time (2016?) we had about 40 members, 15-20 regular rowers and the money raised through membership and rowing barely covered the cost of maintenance. We decided to press ahead and investigate the idea and spoke to the council about various sites. At the end, both sides settled for the seven parking spaces at the side of the Capper in the Fisherrow Back Sands car park.

We approached a449 architects in Portobello as they had designed the award-winning house at Murdoch’s Green and they came up with an amazing two-storey design. At the same time, we were asked to become a member of Sported, a charity to help clubs grow and encourage young people to join. Through Sported, we linked up with a mentor from the Scottish Futures Trust and also an online mentor to help with planning. We also spoke to the council’s estates and planning departments.

Although the a449 plans were lovely, the committee decided they were perhaps too grand and would cost too much money. We were also told by the council that a two-storey building might not get through planning, so we decided to scale back the building to one storey and make it more in line with what the club needed. After a few years of working on the idea of having a boatshed, we knew more about what we needed and decided this was somewhere to maintain (and possibly build) boats. We also wanted a space that would work for members, for meetings and social gatherings and just to hang out.

We found another architect, Blueprint, in Dunbar and they designed a basic, but nice looking, one-storey building which went to planning and was approved. At the same time, we were busy identifying potential funders and working with East Lothian Council Estates department to secure the lease. The last couple of years have been amazing for the club and our membership has grown massively, along with the number of regular rowers (now 60+ members and around 40 regular rowers). All of this has meant that we have gone from struggling financially to being in a good financial position, which means we knew we would be able to afford to run a boatshed.

This has been a long process and during this time, we gained our SCRA Green Flag and began organising beach cleans and picking up litter from the sea. We decided to take this a step further and investigate a more sustainable building.

This seemed like the right thing to do, but we have realised we are about a year ahead of the game. The building industry is very traditional, and although change is coming in building practice, it is not quite there yet. This has made looking for sustainable solutions has been tough. After looking at Hempcrete and other eco-bricks, we have come across Durisol and decided to go with it.

So we are now going back to Blueprint to see if they can draw up plans for building control using Durisol bricks, Velfac windows and doors (the windows will all have external shutters to avoid vandalism) and recycled plastic roof tiles.

We have also identified a lawyer to act on our behalf to obtain the lease, and are investigating funding opportunities.

It is also worth pointing out that our current need for a boatshed as grown as more people are using the boats and they now need year-round maintenance. As Prestongrange has various issues and will not be on offer forever, it is vital we move ahead with this and try to get our building up and running asap.

I hope this helps people to understand what has been going on. It has been a long road to go down, but we have learned a lot about what the club needs along the way. If anyone has any questions, please ask in person or email eskmuthe@gmail.com

The Durisol blocks are perfect for self build! And the eco roof tiles are also designed for self builders (although we are less likely to go down this route for health and safety reasons).
We are hoping to discuss this further after the AGM.

To see the approved plans go to https://pa.eastlothian.gov.uk/online-applications/search.do?action=simple&searchType=Application
and use this code 19/00370/P

Location

Fisherrow Back Sands car park