Barry wins bursary to explore off-grid living
Businessman is one of 15 Scots picked for trust award
A Perth man has won a travel bursary to learn more about off-grid sustainable building that could transform a sector of Scotland’s holiday market.
Barry Wallace is one of 15 Scottish residents awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
The money is directed at helping recipients to research the world’s best ideas, innovations and practices across a range of fields and issues.
Rural business owner Barry (43) will be able to go on a six-week trip to Australia to learn more about sustainable business models for off-grid accommodation building in remote places.
He aims to visit Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide to bring back new ideas that can be put into action in Scotland.
Barry’s business works with landowners wishing to diversify post Brexit and to use their land to place cabins and create other off-grid accommodation.
His company Wildhouse builds the cabin for free and the landowner contributes some costs, gives it a location and shares part of the income from holiday rentals.
Born and bred in the city, Barry studied at Perth Academy and Perth College UHI.
He grew up near Kinfauns and the Friarton Bridge.
“I spent a lot of time on the Tay, on paddleboards,” he said.
He currently lives near his latest project near Oban but plans to return to live again in Perthshire.
“I’m a passionate advocate of what we have in Scotland,” he declared. “I love wild places and the outdoors.”
“Australia has created a very successful model which I intend to learn from.
“There are lots of examples of people designing building in remote locations, making the wilderness a hospitable place to visit.
“In November and December I plan to go and see a company called Unyoked which has the business model I would like to research.
“Unyoked raised initially $1.2 million from only having three cabins. With six cabins its turnover is $500,000 and an occupancy rate of 90 per cent. The Sydney Morning Herald forecasts their turnover to be $5.3M by June 2020. They estimate they will have 300 cabins by 2022.
“It will be very valuable for me to be able to spend time with them.
“There is also ACRE - The
Australian Centre for Rural Entrepreneurship, a small group of rural business start-ups based near Victoria.
“Australians are far more advanced than we are in this country, used to solving a range of problems with building off-grid.
“I want to look into what they have done and return with proof of the concept being able to work here.
“In Scotland landowners have to address the issue of land diversification, income streams and the new reality of EU grants going.
“Estates are having to redesign themselves.
“On the other side you have this growing demand here from holiday customers wanting shelter, warmth, an ecological twist, a stunning location, and unique touches.
“Taking both these elements, there is great potential for synergy I believe.”
Having just launched his Wildhouse website, Barry has seen a rush of interest in the last few weeks.
Everyone can apply for a Churchill Fellowship, regardless of age, background or qualifications, so long as they are a UK citizen aged 18 or over.
The next chance to apply for a fellowship opens on April 30 for travel in 2021.
Applications open via www. wcmt.org.uk