Salmon farmer Scottish Sea Farms (SSF) workers had no place to live, so the company decided to build them a community on the remote island of Eday in Orkney, Scotland.
The company invested £750,000 (€878,000/$978,000) to create four homes for the employees of the nearby salmon farm, to compensate for the lack of available accommodations in the area. SSF partners Willowstream will own and run two other holiday homes to attract visitors to the area.
"We've been farming on the island for over seven years now and while the conditions for growing salmon are superb, the remote location has made recruitment difficult," said SSF Eday Farm Manager Phil Boardman.
The idea first came up in 2018, and a year later Boardman and Darbyshire decided to make it happen by pitching it to the company and to the Orkney Islands Council.
“We’re now just months away from the new homes being occupied, a key milestone that will help us to retain our highly skilled, highly motivated team and in doing so will go a long way to ensuring that remote farms such as Eday remain viable in the long term,” SSF Orkney Regional Manager Richard Darbyshire told IntraFish.
The new homes will be ready for occupancy in 2020, right in time for the next salmon stocking.
The company also set up a two-week on, two-week off shift plan to ensure employees have the time to work while balancing life away from the island.
