Words Charlie Monaghan
Photography Elliot Sheppard
Production Harry Cave

The Isle of Harris in the Outer Hebrides is not an easy place to build… anything. For one, it’s tricky to get there from the mainland: either you take a three-hour ferry from Ullapool to Stornoway (the main town on Lewis, attached to Harris by land but distinct in name) and drive for more than an hour, crossing the tallest mountains in the region as you go, or you drive the length of nearby Skye and get a ferry from its northern peninsula. Once on Harris, a round trip to Stornoway for building materials takes at least two hours – a nightmare if you forget anything – deliveries take days and sometimes never come, while choppy seas can mean cargo ferries don’t make it to port at all. Speaking of the weather: there’s a lot of it . Even just getting and being here takes a certain amount of commitment, but building a house? Well, that takes something else entirely.

Let us introduce Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell. We first met the couple in 2019 at their flat in Edinburgh, the location of their earliest collaborative architectural project, the micro holiday cottage Porteous Studio. Since then, Eilidh’s architectural practice has taken off, while Jack has been busy making cider and perry under the name Linn. Or he was, until around two years ago, when he moved into a caravan on Harris and began a new project designed by Eilidh, which they call Caochan na Creige, ‘little quiet one by the rock’: their own new home overlooking a quiet inlet on a rugged crag in a remote corner of the island.

To be fair, the couple are better set up than most to create a home in a place like this. Eilidh’s architecture is sensitive, inspired by nature and always contextual, which here means a humble timber building, sitting low in the landscape and clad in stone from a local quarry. Jack studied civil engineering and has an eminent practicality about him. Then there’s Alasdair, Eilidh’s brother, a furniture maker proficient with power tools who agreed to move to Harris and help Jack on the 18-month build, living, at times, in his 1990s Volvo estate.

The facts remain, though: Jack and Alasdair had never built a house before; Eilidh had never designed an entire one on her own and the three of them were attempting these firsts in one of the remotest parts of the UK, where storms roll in off the Atlantic unbuffered. Here, in a story that came together over the course of two visits separated by exactly a year, Eilidh, Jack and Alasdair tell the story of Caochan na Creige, detailing everything from why the couple wanted to live on Harris to begin with, to the ways the location informed the house’s design and how the practical challenges and limitations of building here came to enrich its creation.

Eilidh: “One of the first trips Jack and I took as a couple was to the Isle of Barra in 2015. I remember Jack got really excited because we took the plane, which lands on the only beach runway in the world. We kept coming back to the islands, but Harris was a more recent discovery.

“Barra is seen as the real gem of the Hebrides and there are a lot of holiday homes here, so we never really considered it as somewhere to live; in fact, we spent a lot of time on North Uist, so we thought we might end up there.”

Jack: “We went through some other options before we found this site. Eilidh was looking every day and eventually came across a water tower on Scalpay, not too far from here, which was marketed as ‘offers over £8,000’, but it proved too logistically challenging as a site.”

Eilidh: “At that point, we were committed to building something. I remember one winter’s morning, in between looking at sites, we were on the ferry to Harris and I thought, ‘I don’t want to leave here.’”

Jack: “We just immediately liked it here and saw an opportunity to build something special.”

Eilidh: “I scoured the internet for months. We approached landowners and trusts too. Every single day I refreshed my searches. It’s super competitive here, especially for plots of land, because there are so few of them.

“We got far along with the purchase of a traditional white house we were going to bring back to life, but it fell through at the 11th hour. We were devastated, but the search continued. I went straight back online and this plot had came up. We bought it without looking at it.

Jack: “The house is in a place called Geocrab, which is in the Bays of Harris. There are lots of sea lochs and sheltered coves here and the community is really active. We feel very lucky to be part of it all.”

Eilidh: “Initially we designed a bigger house that we were quite serious about, with two separate volumes connected by an entrance hall. But we’d had objections from neighbours and, on top of that, the quotes for the work were coming back so high. I’m glad we didn’t end up building that project, because it really wasn’t right for this site.”

Jack: “The first design would have required a contractor to build it. And, when costs came back for that, we realised we couldn’t have afforded one. It was that time in the pandemic when the price of materials was going up and up, so it was a needs-must thing. I always thought at one point I would build my own house anyway and while it came a bit earlier than I expected, it didn’t daunt me.”

Eilidh: “The second design was shaped by the lessons of the first. We knew we had to keep the access track that was already here, and there’s a huge rock and slope that we couldn’t change, so we were quite limited by the plot too.

“We also knew we’d be building it ourselves, which really informed its design. It’s why the house has a flat roof: we thought it would be easier. We thought about things like how big a sheet of plasterboard is; it would be more work to cut them, so we designed the walls around that.

“We also have a painting that Jack bought for my birthday from the Edinburgh degree show a few years ago. We love it so much that it determined the height of the walls. We left enough space at the bottom and the top for it to hang comfortably. I can’t imagine ever leaving it behind.

“The exterior was going to be concrete from the parapet down. In the end, however, we used stone, working with our friend Dan Macaulay, an incredibly talented mason with whom we’d always wanted to work. When this project came about, we asked him if he fancied going freelance. The fact that he’s from Lewis was also a big deciding factor.”

Jack: “I didn’t really know what I was getting myself into with this place. In my head I thought, ‘Oh it will be done in a year.’ And then you see it stretching on and you think, ‘Oh it will be done by March, then April.’ And then it’s July. I definitely underestimated it.”

Alasdair: “I was meant to be leaving site at Christmas 2021 to get on with my furniture making in Edinburgh, but I was so committed at that point I couldn’t leave.

“I think these two pitched the job really well! But I also thought it would be great experience, which is exactly what I was after. We’ve learned so much, because we’ve had to pick up seven different trades in one house, and every phase was so different.

“There have been stressful days but I think it’s taught us how to keep going – as long as every day there’s a bit of progress. And even though Jack and I have been living together 24/7 and we think about things completely differently, we haven’t disagreed massively.”

Jack: “It’s funny how different we are. Even when Alasdair and I are carrying something, we’ll go to turn and move in completely different directions; it’s like our brains have been wired in opposite ways. But it’s good, because we see both sides of things.”

Eilidh: “Jack and Alasdair are both practically minded but I think, more than anything, a willingness to suffer is what got them through. The weather in winter here is harsh and there’s not much light.”

Jack: “Things happened on this project quite slowly, which meant we did have time to think about each step, but we’re not expert builders so we did get some things wrong. Everything has been handmade with simple tools and the best of what we had available.”

Alasdair: “That’s how it would have been done here for generations here. They wouldn’t have had good tools and everything would have been sourced locally.”

Jack: “Even though our house is modern, it is a timber structure inside a stone shell, which is the case for all the old houses around here.”

Eilidh: “The house – and Dan’s stonework in particular – has received lots of compliments. The locals appreciate how much time and effort went into it.”

Jack: “When we were designing the house, we looked at the work of architect Wenche Selmer, who created wooden houses in the forests of Norway. There’s an element to them that is very handmade too.”

Eilidh: “She was working in landscapes very similar to ours and with a limited palette of materials too. Her structures have a type of freedom only achievable when intricacy and perfection are not essential. The idea of building a house with the skills you have hugely inspired us.”

Jack: “There’s almost nothing inside that we’ve bought in – we’ve made everything here. Things look like they do because of that and we just have to accept it without going for perfection. And I think that’s nice.”

Alasdair: “Dad built most of the house Eilidh and I grew up in, so those memories of a handmade home are strong for both of us. When things went wrong in this project, that was what stayed in our minds – and now they’ve become positive reminders.”

Eilidh: “The mistakes have stories. The floor is all a bit wavy but it’s OK because we did it ourselves. Now, whenever I look at it, I think back to the day we poured it; Alasdair was wheel-barrowing the concrete in and Jack and his dad were levelling by hand. Each flaw tells a story – and that’s what memories are about.”

Jack: “Eilidh’s design was strong enough for us to mess up a bit and it still be fine. The feeling is still there. I think we’ve smashed it.”

Eilidh: “And the view distracts you anyway. Everything on Harris has a view, but we looked at other houses that didn’t have as good an outlook as this one. We’re so lucky here and we’ve designed the house in a way to really make the most of it.

“Our next project is my mum and dad’s house, which I’ve designed. They’ve got a plot in Fife, not far from Edinburgh, so the three of us are going back there to build it.”

Jack: “I don’t think we even dare to think about what’s after Eilidh and Alasdair’s parents’ house.”

Alasdair: “Definitely some time off from building houses! I want to go back to the workshop to make furniture, but I’m still excited about this next project. Someone put it nicely the other day. They said: ‘Once you’ve got experience of building a house and have acquired all that knowledge, it’s a shame not to go on and use it.’ The second one is going to be a lot easier too.”

Eilidh: “Jack and I can’t wait to live on Harris as soon as possible. I would love to work a few projects here, on the islands or in the north of Scotland. Obviously we will need architectural projects to keep us going, but there is so much need for more housing here – you can get holiday lets, but there is nothing to rent to live in – and it’s also important to be part of the community. I’m interested to listen to the locals and be part of trying to find a solution.”

Jack: “Not many young people move here, so we’re keen to get involved and become part of the community where we can. Eilidh is an architect and I think it’s important – as much as beautiful house design is important – that we also help our neighbours. She’s going to be in demand, because people will look at this house and see what she’s bringing to the island. Who knows what I’m bringing! But I’m happy to do anything, whether that’s putting up fences or going fishing. There are lots of bits and pieces to do, which suits me.

“The house build has been one phase, but the next phase of living here is getting involved and making it work. I’m so excited to get going on that bit. We just need to build the house in Fife, which should be easier. There is a Screwfix five minutes away from that site and they do 30-minute delivery, which is going to be the biggest novelty after this – we’re going to have to be careful not to get carried away!”