MAKAR Homes

06/06/2026

£5-a-week heating bills? How super-efficient timber houses can transform Scotland.

Jeremy Leggett, Founder and Chair of NatureProsperity, writes for The Scotsman about how timber homes are good for nature, the economy, the fight against climate change – and might even help protect democracy from the rise of the far-right... Read more (requires subscription to access): https://www.scotsman.com/news/opinion/columnists/ps5-a-week-heating-bills-how-super-efficient-timber-houses-can-transform-scotland-8658476

“Two economies vie for Scotland’s future. One we know well: linear, extractive,
predicated on burning fossil fuels and the depletion of soils, biodiversity and
fresh water. It’s the economy that has carried us, with its thirst for quarterly
returns and glossy GDP figures, into climate meltdown and biodiversity
collapse. It is, increasingly clearly, the road to ruin.
The other is one we’re only beginning to glimpse, but which has been quietly
assembling itself in parts of Scotland and beyond. It is circular, nature-based,
and predicated on the hope-inspiring notion that you can grow human
prosperity by restoring the living systems on which it depends. I call the driving
mechanism of this economy ‘the nature prosperity pump’.
It starts like this.”

On Friday, we became a founding partner of NatureProsperity Ltd, a new company that will provide a credible, scalable pathway for institutional capital to accelerate the development of a resilient, nature-based rural economy in Scotland. Central to this is nature-supporting sustainable forestry to build affordable homes.

Timber homes are good for nature, the economy, the fight against climate change – and might even help protect democracy from the rise of the far-right

05/06/2026

On World Environment Day, MAKAR are proud to announce they are one of four founding partners of , launched today. 🌿
The NatureProsperity model provides a credible, scalable pathway for institutional capital to deliver stable returns from nature-based solutions to Scotland's housing, biodiversity and climate crises.
How does it work?
🌲 Carbon is stored in timber grown from sustainable forestry
🏡 This timber is used in MAKAR's net zero, timber-rich homes
👷 These affordable homes are delivered at scale to house a growing rural workforce
🌱 This workforce accelerates a resilient, nature-based rural economy
Find out more at www.natureprosperity.co.uk

24/05/2026

Have you spotted one of MAKAR's home-grown homes on your travels across some of Scotland's most remarkable landscapes?

We design homes for the Scottish climate, using Scottish timber. Constructed off-site, they lock away carbon at around one tonne of CO2 per cubic metre.

All new homes should provide lasting wellbeing, comfort, light and space. Warm in winters, cool in summers, and with low heating costs throughout.

21/05/2026

Housing rural workers and families is one of the most pressing challenges facing Scotland right now. The key to building a thriving rural economy will be delivering sustainable homes to support the people who power it. It was great to meet so many at the Scottish Land & Estates Conference yesterday, under this year's theme: 'Economic Growth: Empowering Rural Scotland'.

At MAKAR, we're looking to help landowners, businesses, infrastructure developers, and communities provide homes that are healthy to live in, low-cost to build and heat, net zero on delivery, and built to last for generations, all manufactured from Scottish timber.

Our Technical Manager, Thomas Woolley, rounded off the day with a short talk on what motivates us to keep innovating to provide better, beautiful and affordable homes for Scotland.

If you're a landowner, community or rural developer thinking about sustainable homes, we'd love to talk: [email protected]

06/05/2026

Built from local Scottish timber with a short supply chain, our homes can be more resilient to global disruptions and volatility. This means we can keep building affordable family homes even when some global markets are disrupted.

With highly efficient energy systems, we keep heating costs low for our customers and occupants, too. As low as £5.72 per week to heat.

We were delighted to welcome Emma Roddick SNP back to our workshop, bringing the First Minister for a tour of our prototype affordable home. Book your own free tour here to find out more about our design, manufacture and assembly, and see for yourself what a timber-rich home looks and feels like: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/makars-affordable-home-prototype-weekly-showhome-tours-tickets-1976874095636?aff=oddtdtcreator

06/05/2026

We did it! 🎉 We're proud to announce that Makar has achieved STA Assure Gold from the Structural Timber Association—the highest level of recognition for exceptional standards of quality and compliance in timber construction.

For our customers, that means complete confidence in our independently verified standards for structure, safety, and performance. Alongside this, our systems have undergone third-party fire analysis by Milner Associates, giving further reassurance that our homes have been designed with safety at their core.

We build using Scottish timber, low-carbon methods, and deliver homes with exceptionally low running costs. We're looking forward to working with more private clients, local authorities and community developers, with our approach offering a solution for affordable housing in rural Scotland.

Find out more about STA Assure: https://www.structuraltimber.co.uk/sta-assure/

Explore our newly built affordable home prototype during our weekly Wednesday tours - including our new VR experience: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/makars-affordable-home-prototype-weekly-showhome-tours-tickets-1976874095636?aff=oddtdtcreator

28/04/2026

Last week we welcomed 26 Land & Estates members and the SLE team to our Inverness workshop for a tour of our affordable home prototype, co-hosted with our key supplier Logie Timber.

Together we explored how Scottish timber can play a real role in addressing Scotland's housing crisis — particularly in building sustainable rural homes that support local economies.

Visitors saw first-hand how our precision-manufacturing process eliminates waste, and how our Passivhaus approach pairs low embodied carbon (around 39 tonnes) with high airtightness and energy efficiency, dramatically cutting the energy needed to heat and cool these homes over their lifetime.

We had some brilliant conversations about the challenges and opportunities for innovative builders like MAKAR and housing developers across Scotland, who are working to scale up the production of low carbon, low cost, high quality homes, while bolstering Scottish supply chains and rural economies.

If you'd like to see it for yourself, you can book onto one of our regular workshop and prototype tours in Inverness: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/makars-affordable-home-prototype-weekly-showhome-tours-tickets-1976874095636?aff=oddtdtcreator

26/04/2026

I love the way in which the natural materials of Scotland and natural timber in Scotland have been used to support housing development", Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney on visiting our prototype net zero home near Inverness.

- We prioritise the use of Scottish timber in the design and construction of these homes, not just in the frame, but also in using natural materials for the insulation and panel construction. Supporting local economies and keeping embodied carbon low.
- This enables us to create vapour-permeable 'breathing walls' which eliminate the risk of damp and mould.
- The efficiency of our manufacturing set up, and the speed at which we can assemble these homes across the UK, even in remote places, means they are affordable to construct as well as to heat.
- The high airtightness, combined with a MVHR (mechanical ventilation and heat recovery) system, allows us to model the heating of these homes at £5.74 per week (rather than per day as is more typical in new builds).

Great to welcome John Swinney and Emma Roddick SNP to see it for themselves. Book your own tour here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/makars-affordable-home-prototype-weekly-showhome-tours-tickets-1976874095636?aff=oddtdtcreator

🔗 www.makar.co.uk/paradigm

17/04/2026

£5 a week to heat.
Made in the Highlands of Scotland.
We’re ready — the system needs to accommodate innovative, high-quality, energy-efficient, low-carbon homes.

Inverness housebuilder Makar believes a number of red tape issues are stopping it from building more homes in the Highlands. Read more: https://ebx.sh/E8dvbS

11/04/2026

Scotland's housing crisis needs new thinking — and this week, the First Minister came to see ours.

John Swinney visited our workshop near Inverness to tour the Paradigm home and talk through planning barriers, grant funding, and how builders like us can move faster to deliver homes that lower heating costs for occupants, eliminate the risk of mould and support Scottish timber industries.

"What MAKAR has is an innovative model, so it requires being thought about and considered in a different way."

The story made the front page of The Press and Journal, written by Alex Banks: https://www.pressandjournal.co.uk/fp/news/inverness/6994504/john-swinney-highland-housing/