Client: Alladale Wilderness Reserve

Location: Ardgay – Scottish Highlands

Project start : Nov 2018

Size: 4000m² site to produce trout and vegetable crop

         10m³ Tot. Fish Tanks Rearing Capacity

Client profile.

The 23,000-acre Alladale Wilderness Reserve is set high up in the Scottish Highlands engaging guests with their conservation philosophy to advocate a sustainable way of living.

It is one of the largest privately owned and longest standing rewilding projects in the United Kingdom offering a combination of hospitality and nature wonders.

A nature-based retreat composed of a Victorian style wilderness lodge, a remote bunk house, and two modern Scottish cottages with a capacity to host up to 46 guests at the reserve.

The award-winning lodge has a restaurant for the guests, ingredients are carefully selected and strictly from local suppliers.

Alladale’s extensive conservation work is well documented and includes large scale native tree planting, peatland restoration, outdoor learning for teenagers, and multiple wildlife projects.

Their initiative contributes to charity partners such as The European Nature Trust which supports wildlife and conservation projects across Europe.

A milestone in sustainable development is their 90KW hydro-electric turbine power generator, allowing the site to be independent from the main grid and contribute in reducing carbon emission.

The turbine generates enough energy to power the Reserve buildings and the surplus is fed back to the main grid as GREEN ENERGY.

Project requirements.

The Lodge need a secure supply of seasonal fresh produce year-round for guest and staff, the aim it to reduce food milage and to serve the highest quality produce. The closest village food stores are 21km away and sells mostly imported food. During winter there is no local horticulture produce available due to the climate condition and generally a lack of indoor crop producers as well as sustainable farming practice.

The project required consent from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency and Scottish Aquaculture due to the land declared a Wilderness Reserve.

Alladale has a sustainability policy Susti-decl-V1.pdf (alladale.com)  to safeguard rivers and the land so the amount of water utilised is limited and the wastewater from the Aquaponic system must be safely disposed in accordance with Waste Regulation Policy.

Due to the remote location during winter months design criteria of the Aquaponic system requires a self-redundant system with the ability to be monitored remotely and alert site staff of any mechanical or electronic malfunction.

Another important factor in design is to make the Aquaponic system simple to operate as it will be managed by personnel new to Aquaponics.

The electricity needs of the Aquaponic system and equipment must be supplied by the Hydro-generator.

The last two aspects to account for are aesthetic and safety, the system is sited in a Nature Reserve and needs minimum visual impact as well as to comply with Public Health and Safety Regulation.

Our Design and Technology solution.

Limited water supply and wastewater management requirement led us to develop the first Integrated Agri-Aquaculture system (IAAS) in Scotland.

IAAS is the integration of aquaculture and soil horticultural crop.

This has been achieved by utilising biologically treated water from the aquaponic system fed by automated irrigation in specially constructed outdoor throughs containing soil, thus increasing the overall productivity of the site by 30%

To create a self-redundant system and simple to operate we decided to install the following devices:

•  -automated mechanical filtration
•  -self-cleaning Biological filtration
•  -automated System water top up
•  – Electronic system sterilisation
•  -Automated water parameter controls
•  -Remote water monitoring system and alerts
•  -Power switch relay with self-start generator
•  -digital fish feeder
•  -Dual channels oxygenation system
•  -wastewater auto-clarifier
•  -anti-fouling aeration membrane
•  -Equipment protection electronic sensors  
•  -Automated wastewater management
•  -Automated soil crop irrigation

Having Green Energy available presented the right opportunity for the utilisation of Controlled Environment Systems, this will boost system performance by providing green crops during winter that are not locally available and maximise fish productivity.

The system has been constructed with WRAS approved materials and all structures made of local timber to blend in with the natural surroundings.

To maintain a natural profile of the site we chose to apply two specific growing methods, indoor wooden raised beds with clay pebbles and outdoor wooden troughs filled with soil.