The Friends of Blairs Loch is a group of volunteers which has created a special place for recreational and educational activities at the Loch of Blairs in Moray, Scotland. Funded solely by charitable donations, the enthusiastic team’s main mission was to reopen the Loch for trout fishing; Moray Council ended the maintenance and operation of this popular trout fishing venture on the loch due to budgetary constraints.
Trout fishing at the Loch of Blairs, Moray, ceased around the time of millennium. Since then, the loch had started to merge into its surroundings: its banks becoming overgrown, weed clogging the water, while the Victorian boat house, adjoining Bothy and adjacent stable and cart-house buildings had all fallen into a state of disrepair.
The Friends of Blairs Loch looked to transform the loch into a place for enjoyment and recreation by extending the network of footpaths around its banks, transforming the dilapidated buildings into a field study facility for local schools and, ultimately, returning trout to the water.
By 2020, the Friends had sufficient funds to enable restoration of the picturesque Boat House and Bothy. Its slate roof, structural frame and cladding were all repaired by local contractors along with installation of new windows on the Bothy. Internally, the works were completed by volunteers, including insulating the Bothy’s walls and roof and replacing the timber lining. The floor was rebuilt using West Fraser’s SterlingOSB Zero boards as a solid substrate onto which the final floor covering was applied.
Attention then turned to the stable and cart room. The Friends’ original intention had been to restore the wooden building to turn it into a classroom but surveys revealed its structure had deteriorated to the point where it was unsafe. Wittets Architects designed a contemporary replacement for the stable to occupy the same footprint as the original. “The Stable Room is a conventional timber framed building. The frame was built and covered in SterlingOSB Zero with a larch skin applied externally; on the inside is insulation and a plasterboard lining,” explains Brian Higgs, one of the Friends. Wittets Architects’ scheme also features a metal profile roof mounted on a SterlingOSB Zero substrate. “The only work carried out by volunteers to this building was decoration. The rest we left to the professionals because it had to comply with Building Regulations,” says Higgs.
Alongside the Stable Classroom, the architects have also added a new building, designed in the same style and built from the same materials, which houses toilets, a changing area and a kitchen.
The Friends have also built a series of wildlife hides using i-Joist offcuts supplied by local manufacturer James Jones & Sons. The joists feature softwood flanges either side of an OSB web. The hides have been formed by simply screwing together the joist flanges to form the walls and roof of the hides.
With restoration of the buildings now complete, the current focus of the Friends of Blairs Loch is to remove weed from the loch prior to reintroducing the trout. To check their progress, go to www.blairsloch.com
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