Strathdearn Community Developments (SCD) has marked an important milestone in its community-owned residential housing project in Tomatin, with the help of local primary school pupils who broke ground on site Wednesday the 23rd of April

Six new homes to be built next to the school will be completed by spring 2026 addressing housing needs in this rural community. This will be affordable, high-quality and energy-efficient places for families to live. Created in response to an extensive consultation and housing needs survey, the mix of two and three-bedroom homes will be retained by SCD the local community run company and offered at an affordable rent.

Nestled in the hills between Aviemore and Inverness, the Strathdearn community has benefitted from planned regeneration initiatives by SCD in recent years. These include the community hub, with hall, shop and café, broadband connections, children’s play area, safer routes to school paths network, and community woodland.

The housing project is a collaboration between the community and the Tomatin Estate. It has been in the works for over five years, and gained welcomed funding from SSE, Eneco and Glen Kyllachy wind farms operating in the area. The project also received a significant boost from the Scottish Government’s Rural Housing Fund and a loan from Social Investment Scotland.

On-site, practical support has been pledged by Balfour Beatty – lead contractor on the A9 Dualling: Tomatin to Moy project – SCD’s professional team of Inverness-based quantity surveyors, WSD Scotland, Colin Armstrong Architects, Neil Ross Consulting Engineers on Structure, and Caintech Ltd Civil Engineering & Design Surveying. The main contract has been awarded to Allan Munro Construction of Aviemore.

Graeme Ferguson, chair at SCD, said: “The affordable housing project is a vital step in sustaining our small community, the local primary school and locally owned assets, such as the newly acquired woodland. It has always been a great place to live and work, but with new facilities, there is even more to support a thriving community.”

Maureen McDonald-Cooke, project & development manager at SCD, said: ‘This is a fantastic opportunity, and I am delighted to help deliver this legacy project for the community. We know that the demand for housing in the local area outstrips the supply, and we are looking forward to seeing families with a local connection potentially returning to live here for the long term.

We are grateful for all the support from funders, stakeholders and partners who have helped make this project a reality, and of course, to Strathdearn Primary School for helping us mark the construction milestone.”

Chris Jamieson, head of investments at Social Investment Scotland, added: “Strathdearn Community Developments has made a huge difference to the lives of those who live and work in Tomatin in recent years. The focus on community ownership and regeneration has already provided a significant boost to the community, and this housing project will support that ambition further.

We are pleased to support a project that will have clear benefits, both in the short term for the tenants who move in, and in the longer term, for the economic prosperity of this area, and look forward to watching construction progress.”