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MARY HAS A SHED LOAD OF PRAISE FOR MARLEY ETERNIT SHEETING

Architect Mary Arnold-Forster specified Marley Eternit’s fibre cement profiled sheeting for her second self-build on the Isle of Skye for a multitude of reasons, not least to prove that a shed could be a beautiful thing.

A shed lover since she visited her grandmother’s boat shed in Argyll as a little girl, Mary compares her new home to a shed because “it has a corrugated roof and walls, sliding shed doors, it’s low-lying and long – almost 20 metres – and it’s thin, with a narrow span of six metres.”

That comparison aside, it is a thoroughly modern, low-maintenance take on a shed, with the equivalent of triple glazing and solar panels that pre-heat the water used in a pump that recycles hot air from the three walk-in showers.

Marley Eternit’s fire-resistant fibre cement sheeting has been used on the roof and parts of the elevations, complementing the full-height glazing, storm shutters and larch wood from nearby Fort Augustus, which blends in with the vegetation of the hillsides and the slate-coloured waters of the seas loch in front.

The storm shutters are now proving popular with her clients although she used them at Tokavaig House for practical reasons – orientating her home to maximise the views of the beautiful sunsets also meant she gets the full force of the south-westerly winds – conditions which dictate that even Marley Eternit’s robust sheeting requires special attention to detail when installing it in such an aggressive environment.

“I wanted the shed look and have worked with other corrugated materials like steel and aluminium but there were aspects of both I wasn’t so happy with. The Marley Eternit product appealed because of its thickness, resistance to erosion, self-sealing around fixings and its sense of solidarity in comparison,” said Mary.

“There is also plenty of it around as it is a well established material here for agricultural buildings so I liked a modern product with reference to traditional vernacular architecture. The charcoal colour also looks good against the faded larch. It contributes a lot.”

Mary is just one of an increasing number of architects, like Neil Sutherland, Meredith Bowles and Walter Menteth, who have taken Marley Eternit’s fibre cement profiled sheeting away from its roots in agriculture where its vapour permeability (which minimises condensation) and acoustic insulating qualities make it ideal for livestock buildings.

Originally from London but with Scottish family, Mary moved to Skye almost nine years ago after she met twin brothers and (then) trainee architects Neil and Alasdair Stephen at a party. The three formed Dualchas Design, Dualchas meaning “cultural heritage” in Gaelic.

An avid climber, Mary is at home in the countryside and in a house that it outwardly looking, compared to inward-looking city houses. She is committed to designing buildings that sit comfortably in their landscapes and are also unmistakably Highland yet also modern.

She draws inspiration from the old “black houses” of the area – small, thatched dwellings made from local materials – humble, energy-efficient homes with a fire in the middle (yes, hers has a stove in the middle!), built low and at one with the hills to withstand the elements.

“We’re not designing buildings that are a pastiche of our heritage. We’re understanding it and responding to it. Architecture should move on but it should also learn from the past,” she said.

Mary also learns from the past. Her first self-build on Skye was a white-rendered house with a slate roof, 500 yards away on the other side of the road.
“It’s nice but I wanted to move on. I wanted to prove that a shed is a beautiful thing. Now I have a full-size model of what I’m talking about. It’s perfect but I’ll probably build another. It’s quite addictive.”

So addictive is it proving that Mary currently has two other projects for Skye in the pipeline, one of which is for 12 houses, and both projects will be using Marley Eternit’s fibre cement profiled sheeting.

Email: profile@marleyeternit.co.uk