Merchant House, Castle Street, Inverness

Refurbishment of the B-Listed Merchant House overlooking Inverness Castle in a sympathetic development retaining as much as the original building as possible, creating 7 one-bedroom flats, 2 two-bedroom penthouses and a commercial unit on the ground floor

Merchant House has been constructed on a challenging city centre site just below the Castle in Inverness. The site was flanked on 2 sides by existing buildings and to the rear with a very steep and unstable embankment which required specialist soil engineering to stabilise it. The former building occupying the site was being held up by a scaffold frame prior to demolition commencing. The scaffold and building had to be demolished by hand to maintain structural integrity. The front elevation facing Castle Street was also carefully taken down stone by stone and each stone was tagged and carefully stored. Once the new main timber and steel structure was built and stable the previously removed stones were re built on the façade with each stone being put back in the same place as it had occupied prior to demolition commencing.