Achagarry – Homes for Coigach
29 June 2026
Funding success builds confidence in Achagarry summer start!
A small community in the North West Highlands is celebrating a major milestone on the road to affordable housing – with spades poised, they are getting ready to break ground any day now.
Coigach Community Development Company (CCDC), the area’s charitable organisation, has planning permission to build 10 new homes for social rent. The development, named Achagarry (place of the garden) will see new, energy-efficient homes built on the brownfield site of the former Achiltibuie Hydroponicum.
Ben Walton, Chair of CCDC said: “This is an exciting time for Coigach! The last social housing was built in 1974, where I grew up myself, and it took nearly 15 years to get this site but finally, we are well on the way to a whole new chapter!”
CCDC bought the site in 2023 funded by the Scottish Land Fund and CCDC’s own funds generated by the community-owned wind turbine. After acquiring the site, there were several months of pre-development work: site investigations, drawings, surveys and feasibility studies – funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural & Islands Housing Fund, the Community Regeneration Fund, Crown Estate, and more funds thanks to Coigach’s wind turbine. To everyone’s relief, planning permission was granted in July 2025. The next job was raising the capital to start building.
With build costs in the region of £3m, fundraising was a challenge, but CCDC is delighted to announce recent funding awards of £1,840,950 from Scottish Government’s Rural & Islands Housing Fund, £575,920 from the Capital Regeneration Grant Fund administered by Highland Council and £95,000 from SSE Renewables Highland Sustainable Development Fund. With CCDC’s own funds already in the pot, this means they can appoint contractors, and get started.
CCDC CEO Laura Hamlet said: “the good news about funding was on hold due to the election, and our team has been itching to share this, now we can finally put our hard hats on and crack on!”
Local firm Ullapool Construction Ltd has been appointed to build the houses at Achagarry and will be on site by the end of June. This summer promises to be an exciting time for everyone in Coigach as they look forward to the place that once grew bananas, housing families and growing the community.
To read the full Press Release click here