Using Home-Grown Scottish Timber
When Grand Designs House of the Year 2025 was announced, the winning project felt quietly familiar to us.
The house, Caochan na Craige, sits low in the landscape on the Isle of Harris. Architects Eilidh Izat and Jack Arundell designed and built this, their own house, using Lewisian gneiss stone gathered from the surrounding ground. One of the oldest stones on earth, was laid back into the land it came from.
To complement that stone, Logie Timber supplied Western Red Cedar for both internal and selected external elements of the build.
Why Western Red Cedar Belonged Here
Caochan na Craige is a house shaped by climate. Wind, salt, rain and long Atlantic winters, all demand materials that can weather time without fuss. Western Red Cedar has long been trusted in these conditions, not because it shouts but because it lasts.
· Naturally durable and stable, it performs exceptionally well in exposed costal environments.
· Lightweight but resilient, making it suitable for both interior linings and sheltered external use.
· Warm in tone and texture, bringing balance to stone, lime plaster and concrete.
Inside the house, the cedar linings help soften the architecture. Against polished concrete floors and lime-plastered walls, it introduces warmth and tactility. A counterpoint to the ruggedness of the exterior. Outside, it weathers gently, fading back into the landscape rather than fighting it.
What we admire most about this project is how the timber isn’t treated as a feature for its own sake. It’s part of a wider material logic; stone from land, timber chosen for performance and feel, spaces designed around light and use rather than excess.
Eilidh Izat, Architect & Homeowner, says,
One of the trademarks of Izat Arundell is Scottish timber – we specify it wherever possible. Working in the Outer Hebrides demands restraint and integrity in materials, and for us, Scottish timber carries that honesty – it weathers and ages, well, contributes to a circular economy and contributes to a story of place. In our own house, Caochan na Creige, I love looking up at the ceiling, which is all Scottish cedar, knowing that it came from the highlands of Scotland. It’s has an impact beyond itself.
A Project to Stand the Test of Time
Seeing timber we supplied used so thoughtfully and in a project recognised at the highest level of UK architecture is something we’re deeply proud of. It reinforces a simple belief: When timber is chosen carefully, used honestly, and allowed to do what its does best, it becomes timeless. Caochan na Craige is proof of that.
RIBA’s short video on YouTube of this, their 2025 Grand Designs House of the Year – featuring beautiful Scottish Western Red Cedar from Logie Timber
