Lomond Homes - 'building a sustainable future'

Background 

Think "new home" and it normally conjures up images of choosing new kitchens and bathroom fittings.  With Glenrothes-based Lomond Homes you can certainly have all of that in impressive splendour.

However, the company now offers considerably more than that, as it is one of Scotland's leading examples of construction companies embedding "sustainability" into everything they do.  Yes, they recycle; yes, they are concerned about the impact that construction might have on the environment; and yes, they are looking at waste minimisation.  But the management have their eye on a much wider picture of being "green" and are developing a broadscale sustainability programme across everything they do.

The company is currently involved in a wide range of construction projects in Fife such as its new housing developments in Blairhall and Lochgelly and further afield, a hotel in Dundee and an exclusive group of executive housing in Solsgirth, near Dollar. 

Sustainable construction

Development Manager of Lomond Homes and former Fife Council planning official, Alan Seath, is passionate about the broader reaches of sustainability from how the company builds, where it builds, the types of properties it builds and how they manage the process.  He explains that the company is aiming to address the three pillars of sustainability - social, economic and environmental.  For example, the company considers transport links, safe play areas and energy savings within each property.

Alan is quick to point out that while the sustainability projects are very important to the company, it is a commercial operation, too and so the challenge is to incorporate the sustainability ethos into a sound and profitable business model. 

Transport

The hotel offers links to public transport, footpaths for walking and cycling into the city centre and cycle storage for security while in Lochgelly's development customers receive a free mountain bike with every home.

Energy Efficiency

Cost and sustainability of energy supplies is a pressing issue for everyone nowadays.  The Lomond Group has appointed a renewables expert to drive their understanding and use of renewable energy ahead of Government plans and to initiate cost savings for the company and their customers.

The company is working with the Business Environment Partnership to draft an energy strategy for their business park in Glenrothes and has developed plans to incorporate energy efficient heating and cooling systems in the Solsgirth development.  The company is keen to offer customers energy savings per house on gas and electricity bills with alternative energy sources.

Waste management

"Our waste is someone else's raw material!" says Alan, as he talks about the company's recent moves towards selling, bartering and disposing of waste.  The company aims to use everything on site, for obvious cost reasons and to prevent additional transport impact moving materials onto site and then away again in a different form. 

Lomond Group is working with Envirowise to audit the company and help draft a waste management strategy.  A more recent link is with NISP to discuss how to connect with other companies to use waste profitably.

New technologies

Investment in a new optimising cutting saw has increased the company's capacity for timber kit production and allows the company to monitor its timber usage, increasing yield to an unprecendented 98%, reducing waste by around 20%. 

The technology involved allows closer, faster and more flexible working between the technical and production departments, by transferring drawings electronically straight to the saw.  The saw is so efficient that it has replaced the work of two previous saws with ongoing time and energy savings.