Aldourie Castle Estate, Inverness

2025 RIAS Award
RIAS/Confor/TDUK Timber Award
 

Ptolemy Dean Architects for Wildland  
Contract value: Confidential
GIA: 3,538m²

This five-year project involved not only the conservation of the Category A-listed Aldourie Castle, but also the restoration of all the surrounding estate buildings, and the design of new ones. 

The new structures include home farm buildings, an energy centre, a lodge, a boathouse and a pedestrian bridge linking the castle to the restored walled garden complete with a new pavilion. All these form part of a wider architectural and landscape composition which had become disconnected and incoherent. 

The overall success of Ptolemy Dean Architects’ project was to elegantly meet the client’s brief by restoring the spirit of the place and reconnecting the disparate buildings to the romantic landscape in which they are set. All of its aspects demonstrate work of the highest standard, both in design and in execution.

In terms of design, the additions to the castle and the new buildings not only illustrate a thorough understanding of the work of the significant historical architects who worked on the estate, such as David Bryce and Sir Robert Lorimer, but also show how their work can be developed with a delightful sense of informed wit. This is rare and has resulted in a project where the past speaks to the present and the present speaks to the past. The outcome demonstrates how, in the hands of intelligent architects thoroughly versed in the tradition in which they are working, that tradition can be subtly evolved to make it relevant for the 21st century.

In terms of execution, the conservation, restoration and new work have been completed to an exemplary level. Traditional materials and craft building skills have been employed throughout, using locally sourced and sustainable materials such as estate-grown timber and local stone, together with salvaged slate for the roofs. 

The slates are laid in the traditional graduated manner, with courses of diminishing size from the eaves to the ridge. The project has also provided opportunities for many specialist craftspeople to exercise their skills and to help preserve these for future generations. In this way the existing architectural hierarchy has been built on and significantly enhanced.

The estate, which is run as a business and let to visitors, has been restored with a vision that aims to support its operation. The restored kitchen garden provides produce for the castle, and a new biomass boiler – housed in a delightful new building – supplies heating and hot water for the whole estate. The new home farm complex has also enabled the historic steading to be beautifully restored for staff, for functions and to relieve pressure on the castle itself.

This is a fine example of a wide-ranging architectural project, carried out over many years and designed and delivered to a very high standard, resulting in a beautifully unified estate within the curtilage of the Category A-listed castle.

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