Sabhal Mor Ostaig

Sabhal Mor Ostaig, (SMO) the Gaelic College, is situated 2
miles north of Armadale, on the south east coast of Skye.
The building is a steel framed block clad structure with a
winged shape standing seam roof. It is 4 storeys in height. As
well as office space and a creche, the building will have a
recording studio and television theatre. SMO also plan to install
a biomass heating system to serve this and their other
buildings in the complex.

UBC began work on the £4,500,000 project in September last year with completion scheduled by the end of this
year. Some enabling works had been carried out during the construction of the previous phase, so that a good
access road and most services were readily available when construction commenced. Extensive excavations
had to be undertaken to form the basement area and an 80 metre long retaining wall constructed.
Work on the project progressed well till November, when erection of the steel frame commenced. Unfortunately,
that’s the time when the weather turned against us. This corner of Skye, indeed the whole area including the
outer isles has had one of the stormiest winters for some time, in terms of constant gale force winds and rain.
The building is situated such that the main façade faces south east, looking over the water to Mallaig on the west
coast. As such the site is exposed to the south and south westerly prevailing winds, giving no shelter to the
prevailing wind.
Despite this, the steel frame is complete, the concrete floors are poured and we now have blockwork and roofing
works ongoing and windows installation is about to commence. We all remain optimistic that the gale force winds
will cease at some stage!
Mackenzie Partnership are the Project Managers for the Project. They have a long association with SMO, having
been involved in all previous phases of the growth of the college. Likewise with Gillespies of Glasgow, the
Architects, who are aided by Structural Engineers Woolgar Hunter and Services Engineers DSSR