Western Isles

Galmstrup Architects have worked continuously since 2019 with the National Trust for Scotland (NTS) preparing strategic masterplans and conducting conservation works for a number of their islands and estates. Sites include the double UNESCO World Heritage site St. Kilda, as well as NNR and SSSI sites Torridon, Kintail and Glenfinnan and the islands Fair Isle, Canna and Staffa. Our works combines masterplanning, feasibility studies with community engagement, content and interpretation, as well as a pragmatic approach to operation and implementation. For the Islands project we were commissioned to provide a strategic masterplan for each of the islands based on conversations with the communities and the NTS specialist team. St. Kilda - an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and double UNESCO World Heritage site. Canna & Sanday - a scenic Hebridean island, and Fair Isle - the most remote inhabited island in the UK. Our masterplans focused on creating resilient places which balance conservation of a fragile natural, human and heritage environment, while providing sustainable livelihood for the local communities.

St. Kilda - The island at the ‘edge of the world’ and home to nearly a million seabirds. The essence of the work was reinstating conservation as the main tool to manage access for future generations experiencing the sense of solitude, discovery, history and the extraordinary seabird life on St. Kilda. We designed a new arrival experience, masterplanned visitor zones and re-organised visitor and accommodation facilities instead of proposing new built.

Canna and Sanday - Two islands connected around a scenic circular bay structure and home to 15 residents. Our work focused on the idea of Canna House as a working archive, opening its garden and collection of Gaelic culture and Hebridean Island life to a wider audience. We masterplanned the grounds of the house to interact with its surroundings and strengthen the visitor journey around the bay.

Fair Isle - Fair Isle is located between Orkney and Shetland compromising a multi-skilled community and unique craft history famous for its knitwear and seabirds. Rooted in the resident’s main wish to have more homes and workspaces, we identified potential location and retrofit strategies based on traditional construction methods in new designs.

CLIENT: National Trust for Scotland
LOCATION: St. Kilda, Canna and Fair Isle, Scotland
MASTERPLAN: Galmstrup Architects
VISITOR EXPERIENCE: Cultural Projects