Spaceport 1 – Scolpaig Farm, North Uist

Spaceport 1 is a proposal to build the UK’s first dedicated commercial sub-orbital launch site. The project forms part of the Islands Growth Deal Programme, a ten-year initiative jointly funded by the Scottish and UK Governments, in collaboration with the three Island Councils and partners from the public, academic, community, and business sectors.

Fieldwork was undertaken as part of the mitigation strategy identified in the Supplementary Environmental Information (SEI) addendum to the heritage chapter of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) (Headland 2022). The Historic Building Recording was carried out in October 2022, with trial trench evaluation and excavation taking place between August and November 2024. Given the site's remote island location, the work required careful logistical planning. Effective coordination and communication with the local planning authority advisors, the client, consultancy team, and subcontractors were vital to the project’s successful delivery.

Evaluation and excavation work related to the planned access routes and infrastructure for Spaceport 1 uncovered remains of two 19th-century structures: a Blackhouse, likely associated with the former township of Ardanroin, and a byre directly linked to the evolution and eventual abandonment of Scolpaig Farm.

The results of the work, in particular the excavation of the Blackhouse, represent a rare opportunity to fully investigate this traditional building type and add significantly to the corpus of vernacular architecture studies in the Outer Hebrides.