Part superstore roof, part convent, part canal lock – the recycled house

Published Date: 27 August 2008
By BEN BAILEY

AT FIRST glance, Orchard House seems a perfectly normal abode.
Set in a two-and-a-half acre estate outside the village of Rosewell in Midlothian, the large property resembles a former Georgian manor.But below the surface, the £950,000 house is not all that meets the eye. Most of the materials used to build it were destined for the dump."We made our house backwards," owner Archie Hunter said. "When most people build their own home, they design the plans and then try and get the cheapest materials possible. We had the materials; we just needed to design the house."With his wife Anne, 61, Mr Hunter, 56, began collecting materials to make the house in 2000."We managed to get an oak wood flooring, big heavy timber joists, oak doors and marble steps from Whitehill House, an old mansion."From 1922 Whitehill was run by an order of nuns, so we got stained-glass windows which look fantastic."The Hunters also got materials from his local Sainsbury's. Mr Hunter said: "In 2002 the supermarket was undergoing an extension. I spoke to the site manager who said I could take some materials they were going to throw away."They provided us with steel beams and, most importantly, large amounts of insulation."This was absolutely fundamental in making the house what it is. You hear a lot about eco houses made of tyres and scrap, but the key to any true eco house is having maximum insulation. "We got tens of thousands of pounds of insulation for free – materials that were just going to be dumped in landfill sites."The house also features wall panels made from 100-year-old oak found in lock gates from Glasgow canals.The Hunters spent £200,000 on new materials for the house, with 75 per cent of the materials being recycled. Now they plan on selling it and building a new eco house in the Borders. Duncan McLaren, chief executive of Friends of the Earth Scotland, said: "Construction and demolition waste accounts for almost half of the waste arising in Scotland, while over 10 per cent of all materials delivered to building sites become waste without ever being used. Yet recycled materials are available for many construction uses."Orchard House can be visited on 13 September, when it is among 26 buildings taking part in Midlothian Doors Open Day.